Mission Impossible
by Tender Falling Rain
Summary: After the failed wedding, Akane decides it's time to take matters into her own hands and settle things once and for all! With the help of an unlikely ally and a crazy matchmaking plot, will Akane finally get a happy ending? Or will things just get worse?
1. MI001 Form an Alliance

Prologue: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

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…Begin Transmission…

File: MI000

Date: Monday, March 1st, 2010

Time: 20:15

Location: Specifics Unknown, Tokyo, Nerima District, Japan

Objective: Your mission, should you choose to accept it…

Phase 001.01

"Okay so let's get straight to the point. After the wedding got ruined the other day by some unwanted guests, I was… a little upset. Oh honestly! You don't have to act so surprised. I know perfectly well I have a little bit of a temper. Hey come on! I'm being serious here! You don't have to laugh like that! Okay fine. I have a… rather large temper. You satisfied? Good. May I continue now? Thank you.

"Anyway, my point is, the wedding was a complete disaster. And I know I'm partially to blame for that. However, don't think for one minute that I'm letting you off the hook that easily. You most certainly did not help things! The whole situation with those other girls is way out of hand, and you just make things worse, egging them on like you do. I mean what did you think was going to happen if they showed up at the wedding? Did you think they were going to bring nice wedding gifts and congratulate us and wish us well? Of course not! But... That's not why I wanted to talk to you. I'm not here to lecture you, or anything. Sorry, my temper just… Ahem.

"Anyway, as I was saying… Things just can't go on the way they are, and I for one am tired of sitting back waiting for someone to fix things. It's about time I take matters into my own hands. See, as I was saying, after the wedding I was upset. Not just with you but with everyone. But then I kind of got to thinking and I realized I had been foolish. I let my guard down. I mean honestly, what was I expecting? A guy confesses his love to me and then I automatically get a perfect wedding and a happily ever after storybook ending complete with magical Jusenkyo spring water that makes everything in our lives perfect? Please. That's not how things work in the real world. At least not our real world. No, I didn't get any of that. Instead I get a fiancé that hesitates to marry me, even when he finds out that he gets his cure as a wedding gift, and to top things off he goes and takes back what he said to me before. Which is fine, whatever, I mean, it's not like I really… Care…

"Oh who am I kidding. Yes I do care. That's why this is so important to me. Those words meant a lot to me. I wanted to hold onto them. At least for a little while. And that's why I agreed to the wedding. I guess I thought if we went through with it quickly before anyone had a chance to interfere it would be over, and then no one could come between us again. But I was stupid. It was too fast. You don't just make important decisions like that based on a whim. Maybe it's good that everyone showed up like that and ruined it. Otherwise who knows? Maybe we would have gone through with it. Maybe that would've been a mistake…

"Maybe, maybe not, who knows. But one thing is clear. I was stupid and careless. I was stupid not to realize and expect that everyone else was bound to interfere. I didn't even stop to think about how they might feel about the wedding. And what they might do. I was just hoping that for once everything would turn out right.

"But right for whom? I mean even if it was the right thing for us, what about everyone else? I know that I haven't really considered the situation from anyone else's perspective before. But things change you know? Maybe I've matured a bit. Maybe I'm just desperate for some kind of solution. Whatever the reason, I've been thinking about how to make things right. Not just for me, but for everyone.

"Don't get me wrong. I still haven't completely forgiven everyone for what they did. I think that with everything that's happened now, it would be too much to ask for all of us to be good friends. But I don't really hate any of the other fiancé's, or anyone else for that matter. We've been through too much together. And everyone does deserve to be happy I suppose. And to find love.

"The problem is we're all caught up in this stupid love triangle. Octagon? Er, pentagon thing? Oh whatever. The point is it's blinded us to the potential happiness right in front of us. We're just too caught up in this stupid competition to win the heart of one guy. And it's ridiculous really. This competition is preventing us from seeing things as they really are. Maybe if everyone took a step back they'd find the person that was really right for them. And then who knows? Maybe we'd end up with several happy endings instead of just one.

"Thus we arrive at the whole point of my little speech here. I'll be blunt. I need your help. I decided to try my hand at some matchmaking. But I can't do it alone. Which is where you come in. I know it's a challenge. I know it's going to cost both of us considerably. And I know I'm going to be in your debt for a very long time. Both literally and figuratively speaking. But I also know you've never been one to back away from a challenge. And I'm sure that if you assist me in my little plan I can make it profitable for you in the end. So please, say you'll help me? You do kind of owe me after all. You were the one to invite all those crazies to the wedding in the first place. But more importantly, I ask because after all, Nabiki, we are sisters…"

Time: 20:30

End of Phase 001.01, Mission Status: Unknown

…End Transmission…

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Chapter 1: Forming an Alliance

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…Begin Transmission…

File: MI001

Date: Monday, March 1st, 2010

Time: 20:35

Location: Bedroom of Target 001, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Target 001: Tendo Nabiki

Objective: Form alliance…

Phase 001.02

After Akane had finished her proposal Nabiki sat still considering her younger sister for quite some time. Akane knew Nabiki had already made her decision, and that the pause was simply for effect, but she was determined to not let her sister's tactics influence her in any way. After all, she knew that compared to everything else she would be facing, Nabiki was the least of her problems.

Finally Nabiki stood and walked over to her desk, where she pulled out a file and began leafing through various documents within it. "You know it's not going to be easy, right?"

"I know," Akane said, her voice steady, betraying no signs of the eagerness she felt.

"And you're sure you're not going to back out half way through?"

"I'm sure."

"What about your temper? You think you can keep it in check long enough for us to pull this off?"

"Yes," she said resisting the urge to react to the insult. She was willing now to admit it was a problem she had to deal with.

Nabiki considered her younger sister for a few moments and then nodded. "Alright. I'll help you."

"R-Really?"

"Yes, really. But I do have a few conditions."

Akane sighed realizing that there would have to be a catch. "Very well. How much is it going to cost me?"

"Who said anything about money? I only said there would be a few conditions."

"Oh," Akane said slightly confused. "Um, okay then. What are they?"

"Rule number one, you always listen to what I say and do exactly what I tell you to do. I can see that you've been putting a lot of thought into this whole thing, and I'm guessing you've probably already devised a few schemes to set some people up. Am I right?"

"Well, yeah," Akane said with a smile. She was actually rather proud of the plans she had put together. "I did have a few ideas," she began.

"Well forget them. If we're going to do this we're going to do it my way. No offense Sis, but I'm a lot more experienced in these matters than you are. Are we clear?"

Akane sighed, putting aside her disappointment. "Yes, we're clear."

"Good. Moving right along. Now, obviously this is going to cut back on my income considerably. A great deal of my profit is made off of you and Ranma. However, at the same time, the two of you are my greatest expense what with all the property damage you cause around here. So rule number two, no more fights on the compound. I know you can't really help other people showing up and causing problems, but if you send Ranma through that roof one more time and I have to call those contractors back out here to fix it the deal's off. Okay?"

Akane nodded again. "Okay," she agreed. "I need to stop beating him up so much anyway. It'll be difficult but I think I can do it."

"Okay then. Rule number three, you don't ask questions. And that rule starts now," Nabiki rushed the last part out quickly fidgeting ever so slightly and suddenly breaking eye contact with Akane to look to the side.

"Um, okay," Akane said, sounding slightly confused.

Nabiki then took a deep breath and for a brief moment she actually looked nervous. But then the moment passed and the look was gone. "Rule number four. In exchange for my assistance," she paused. "You help train me in martial arts."

"You want me to train you?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Just a refresher. When we were younger we all used to train together, remember?"

"Yeah, until you started junior high and became too preoccupied with your money making schemes to really devote any time to it anymore."

Nabiki glared at her sister. "You used to beat me all the time when we were sparing. It was obvious I was never going to be anywhere near as good as you, so I simply decided to find something else I was good at. 'Money making schemes,' as you so eloquently put it, just happen to be my own cup of tea. However, I realize now giving up martial arts completely was a little short sighted. I hardly even remember the basics anymore. All I'm asking is for a little refresher. Train me for a month or so and then I should be fine on my own."

"But why are you suddenly…"

Nabiki stopped Akane before she could finish with a finger ticking side to side. "Ah, ah, ah! Remember? No questions?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"So, do we have a deal?"

Akane blinked at her in surprise. "What, you mean that's it? Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

"But why? Why are you helping me?"

"Isn't that what big sisters are for?" Akane merely raised an eyebrow at her showing she wasn't going to buy that excuse and Nabiki simply sighed. "Think what you want but believe it or not I do want you to be happy. Besides, I think we're all starting to get a little tired of all the shenanigans going on around here. Things can't go on like this forever. Eventually it all has to end. So I might as well get what I can out of the whole situation and make sure things end on my own terms."

"If you say so," Akane said skeptically. She still had a sneaking suspicion that Nabiki had something else in mind that she wasn't letting on to.

"So we have a deal?" Nabiki asked, pulling Akane away from her thoughts.

For a moment Akane simply stared at her sister's outstretched hand, attempting to ignore the voices in her head telling her she was making a huge mistake. Then finally she took a deep breath and cautiously reached out to shake Nabiki's hand, hoping that she wouldn't regret teaming up with her conniving older sister. "Deal," she said, reluctantly sealing her fate.

"Good," Nabiki said as she went to plop back down on her bed. She crossed her long legs and went into full business mode. "Now, let's get to the point. I need to know, what is it you want to get out of this?"

"E-Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Little Sister. You've always had an altruistic streak, and it's not too unbelievable that you would want to help everyone out, but I know perfectly well you wouldn't be going through all of this if you weren't hoping to get something out of it yourself. Now from your little speech before I get the idea that Ranma must've finally confessed his feelings to you, which by the way was news to me. I had my suspicions, especially when you agreed to the wedding, but I didn't know anything for sure until now. But you still haven't made things completely clear. What is it you want for yourself, Akane?"

Akane blushed brightly and immediately looked down at her feet, pretending to find her shoes incredibly interesting. "I uh… Want Ranma to be happy first of all. I want him to be with the girl he really loves…"

"Easy to say considering he already said he loved you."

"It's not like that," Akane snapped, her embarrassment forgotten. "He thought I was dead! He could have just been confused. And I was… I don't know, it's possible I heard wrong. Maybe I heard what I wanted to hear. Regardless, he took it back later so it means nothing." Her face dropped slightly. "I know he cares about me, but whether or not he loves me, like he said, I'm not sure still."

Nabiki shifted slightly not completely immune to the awkwardness brought about by Akane's words. She hesitated slightly, knowing that it was very important to say the right thing. "What about you, Akane? How do you feel about him?"

Akane looked away again, this time not from embarrassment but from a lingering whimsical sadness, and a weariness that showed on her face. It was clear that events were truly starting to drag her down and her patience with everything was at an end. "I wanted to protect him. That's why I risked my life. For him. I wanted him to be safe. And even now, I'm doing this for him. Because I want him to be happy. And when he saved me, and said that he loved me, I was so relieved. So happy. I've never been so happy in my whole life. And when he said it, I just knew. I knew that I loved him and no one else," she shook her head side to side, trying to dispel the tears welling in the corners of her eyes, and choked back sobs before continuing. "I wanted to live for him, and be with him. That's why I didn't die. I came back for him."

As Akane struggled to put her emotions in check, Nabiki took in a sharp breath of air. Hearing her little sister talking about death so casually was a sobering experience, even for her. She didn't like to think about the fact that she had been so close to losing her baby sister forever. Time was short. No one knew when their final day would come. It was important not to waste the time you were given. Akane had realized that and it had given her the courage to come back home and bravely seize her chance at happiness, fighting against the hesitation she'd had before. _"And what did I do? I invited all the people that would try and destroy that chance at happiness to her wedding." _With a sigh she pushed aside a wave of guilt, silently vowing to do whatever it would take to help her sister get the happiness she deserved. She couldn't care less about the other girls, but they did stand in Akane's way, and if finding them a love of their own got them to back off and leave Ranma to Akane then she would be the best matchmaker the world had ever known.

"_But first things first,"_ she thought to herself, looking to her downcast sister. "Akane, don't worry. Ranma obviously cares for you a great deal more than he does those other twits."

Akane sniffled slightly and looked up at her sister with a weak smile, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes. "You really think so Nabiki?"

"Yes, I do. However, he could still change his mind. And besides, just because you're his favorite doesn't mean he's necessarily yours for the taking. He may like you, but does he like you enough to marry you? Besides, there are other girls in this world, not just the four of you. He could always find someone completely new. You understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I understand."

"But here's what I'm going to do. You say you want Ranma to be with someone he honestly loves. Well, I have the perfect opportunity in mind that will give him a chance to make an actual decision. Whether or not he actually follows through and makes a choice is another issue entirely. After all," she said with an obvious smirk. "You can lead a wild horse to water but you can't force him to actually be responsible and make a decision for once."

Akane rolled her eyes at the obvious pun her sister was clearly so proud of but didn't say anything, waiting as she continued.

"Anyway, I'm already in the process of putting together a side project that will fit in quite nicely with our plans for this little endeavor. It will be about a month before this event takes place though. I'll have some very specific instructions for you to carry out in the weeks beforehand, but for now, all you have to do my dear sister is not screw anything up. If you let people on to the fact that you're up to something none of my plans will work. So," she said lifting her arm and pointing at her sister dramatically. "Your first mission is to act natural. You got it?"

"No problem!" Akane said with a casual laugh. "Seriously, is that all I have to do? How hard could that be!?!"

Time: 21:00

End of Phase 001.02, Mission Status: Complete

Target 001 henceforth to be referred to as Subject 002

Commencing Phase 002.01

…End Transmission…

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Author Notes: This is something I started many years ago and had honestly given up on, mostly because Nabiki plays such a crucial role in it and I always considered her to be a complicated character and felt I couldn't quite get into her head. Whatever original plot I had in place has been completely forgotten, but that's okay, because I don't remember it being all that good. However, when I read over the basic concept I came up with an entire plot almost immediately and have a beginning middle and end all plotted out nicely! It's actually a really fun story, both humorous, waffy and full of happy resolutions for the majority of the Ranma 1/2 cast. So I hope you've enjoyed what I have up so far and will read more as it develops!

A few notes, this does take place after the end of the manga, and I plan on basing the history on the manga rather than the anime as there are some differences between the two storylines. This story starts up the same day the manga ends. I originally had it taking place during the following month but nixed that idea for several reasons. The dates I'm using are picked for a specific reason though, which won't be evident for a little while. However, I did look into Japanese school schedules and will be setting up the story accordingly, which means that in the course of the story they will have one week left before they graduate their first year of high school. Typically terms end the first or second week of March, and then there is a month long break before classes start again in April. However, this story takes place in March only, and therefore won't be dealing with their starting a new term. After all, I have entirely different reasons for having this occur in March that have nothing to do with schooling.

Coming Soon: Chapter 2: MI002 - Act Natural - Of all the chapters this is the one that's giving me the most trouble unfortunately. I like the idea, but it just isn't flowing the way I'd like it to. There's a chance I might just dump it and skip to the next segment, but I haven't decided yet. Basically the next chapter is supposed to be a funny side story of sorts where Akane runs around trying to not look suspicious and fails dramatically at each attempt. And of course as a result everyone else around her starts acting weird in response. Which always provides for amusing situations! The chapter fills in some gaps in time and sets up the story a little better, but ultimately accomplishes very little. However, without it I feel the story is a bit lacking in depth, and if I can pull it off it would be awfully amusing. So wish me luck on writing it. Reviews of course always help the process. ;-)

Please take some time to review and let me know what you think! Also, if you like my writing check out some of my other works from back in the day where I wrote a lot more often. Missing You in particular is complete and was always pretty popular. Love Vanished Once, Regrettably and Eighteen Years are my only in-progress Ranma works, and now this one of course.

Thanks for reading! Ja ne!

~ C ~


	2. MI002 Act Natural

Chapter 2: Act Natural

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…Begin Transmission…

File: MI002

Date: Monday, March 1st, 2010

Time: 21:00

Location: Bedroom of Target 001, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Act Natural…

Phase 002.01

"Seriously, all I have to do is act natural?" Akane asked incredulously. "How hard could that be!?!"

Nabiki eyed her sister with an apathetic glance and crossed her arms. "It may prove more difficult than you expect."

"What do you mean?"

"Well think about it, Akane. For practically a year you two have done nothing but argue and skirt around the issue of your feelings in order to avoid your inevitable marriage. But now you've decided to admit to your feelings. Are you honestly telling me that such a realization isn't going to affect your behavior?"

"Of course it won't!" Akane said confidently. "I'm still me! Ranma's still Ranma. I'm not one of those silly love sick girls that go around acting all gaga over some cute guy," Akane rambled with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow that showed she was less than convinced by Akane's display of assurance.

"I mean so what if he's… Well… Extremely good looking, and confident and strong and exceptionally talented at anything involving martial arts?" Nabiki couldn't help but notice Akane's resolve slipping with each point she rambled off. But then a wave of annoyance crossed her face and her resolve returned. "He's also incredibly arrogant and self centered and a lazy free loader that does nothing but insult my looks, my cooking, my skills as a martial artist…" Her scowl faded from her face and again the almost dreamy doe-eyed expression returned as she nervously clasped her hands in front of her, blushing slightly in a sudden display of shyness. "Although he does have a sweet side that I get to see every once in a while, and he's always there for me when I need him and incredibly dependable whenever it truly matters. And I have to admit, it is awfully cute how he gets so shy despite all his confidence when it comes to admitting his feelings…" Suddenly the scowl had returned. "Although it can be incredibly frustrating," she grumbled under her breath as she recalled how he had retracted his confession on the day of their wedding. She opened her mouth as if to continue but Nabiki cut her off before she had the chance.

"Hey, hey, okay, I get the point. It's nice to see you're as wishy-washy as ever. Very well then, I'm convinced. You'll do just fine," Nabiki said patting her sister on the back.

"You think so Nabiki?"

"Of course!" she said in a sing song voice as she directed her younger sister towards the door. "Just remember, no arguments resulting in property damage."

"Right, got it."

"But don't avoid fighting completely or else it will look suspicious. Just try and be a little less violent."

"O-Okay. Fighting but no violence. Got it."

"Although, come to think of it, you might want to be a little bit nicer. After all, if you're not careful he might end up choosing someone else."

"True," Akane's face wrinkled as she gritted her teeth. "Okay, so I won't fight with him at all."

"No, don't do that, like I said before it would look too suspicious!"

"Okay, so a little fighting, no violence, but still be nice…"

"Oh and don't go acting jealous of the other girls when they come around. They are his fiancés too, and if you're truly serious about letting him choose for himself, it's not very fair to go getting angry at him for spending any time with them. Besides, you're going to have to get used to it over the coming weeks."

"What do you mean getting used to…?"

Nabiki cut her off as she continued. "Never mind that now, just do your best. Remember Ranma always did find it un-cute whenever you acted jealous."

"Un-cute?" Akane bristled.

"Yep, un-cute, you might want to try and work on that too, being a little cuter I mean."

"Now wait a minute, Nabiki, you don't have to…"

"And it wouldn't hurt to flirt a bit while you're at it. Do you even know how to flirt, Akane?" Nabiki asked frankly.

Akane blushed at that question and began stuttering frantically.

Nabiki sighed dismissively. "Who am I kidding? Of course you don't. Oh well, we'll just have to work on that later on. For now just be yourself."

Akane gave her sister a flat glare. "And while I'm at it I need to make sure to act normal and be nice but not too nice, fight with him but not too much…"

"And not violently."

"Right, not violently," Akane growled. "And of course I should be cute but not flirty since apparently I have no idea how to flirt, and I shouldn't act jealous of the other girls…" By the time she was done her face was red in indignation and as she placed her hands on her hips, glaring at her older sister in annoyance it was clear that she was not very happy with her older sister's 'advice.' "Anything else I should remember, Big-Sister?" she growled.

"Nope, I think that's it."

"Fine then, thanks a lot," Akane grumbled as she started to open the door.

"Oh, there is just one last thing."

"What?" Akane asked sighing in exasperation.

"Just a little sisterly advice," Nabiki smiled as she stepped forward looking her sister frankly in the eyes before placing her hand on the door. "Don't be afraid to show him how you really feel, okay?"

Then with a slight pull she opened the door the rest of the way and reassuringly ushered her sister out into the hallway. "Do your best Akane! You'll be great I'm sure!" And with a final smile and a wave Nabiki closed the door, leaving a disillusioned Akane in her wake.

"Somehow I feel less confident and more confused than I had before I talked to her," Akane muttered under her breath. However, with a shake of her head she willed her discomfort away and forced a look of determination back on her face. "Oh well, everything will be just fine! She'll see. And I guess I should be thankful she's helping me. I still can't believe she said yes…"

"Said yes to what?" asked a voice behind her.

With a slight startled gasp she spun around abruptly to face her fiancé standing at the opposite end of the hallway. "Nothing!" She stammered as she glanced him over nervously noting that he was wearing one of his blue shirts, a fact that threw her even more off guard. His favorite color was red and his wardrobe clearly attested to that fact. She had always considered that a shame as she much preferred him in blue. Something to do with his eyes, she figured half in a daze as she suddenly found herself staring into those same steely blue eyes as they narrowed on her.

"Nothing?" he asked, a disbelieving and almost playful tone in his voice as he stalked closer to her, stopping just in front of her. "Come on Akane I know you better than that," he smirked. "You're up to something, admit it."

Akane blushed, partially from the thought of him finding out what it was she had been discussing with her sister and partially due to the close proximity of the boy towering over her. Her mouth felt dry and she struggled to think of something, anything to say to shift his attention away from her but for some reason at that moment her thoughts were hazy. She found herself slightly giddy and dazed, currently contemplating the fact that he had the most enthralling pair of blue eyes she had ever known. That thought led to another and she began to wonder how he came to have blue eyes in the first place. In all her life he was the only person she'd ever known with that particular coloration. Even the few blue eyed foreigners she'd been acquainted with in the past didn't have eyes quite like his. They had all seemed cloudy in comparison, not crystal blue like the color of the summer sky, she mused poetically a weird sensation taking over her thoughts completely.

Akane mentally slapped herself on the forehead realizing she had been staring, and quickly diverted her attention away from his eyes. Unfortunately her attention landed on his lips which led to an entirely different train of thoughts that were equally unsafe. As she struggled to once again focus on his actual question she noticed Ranma shrinking away from her clearly picking up on the fact she had been staring at him in an odd way. At first when he'd approached her he had sounded confident in his teasing ways, but now his voice was uneasy as he nervously spoke again jarring her further out of her daydreaming. "Uh, you feeling okay Akane? You don't look so good."

"I don't?" Akane asked a new sound in her voice that he didn't recall hearing from her before. She actually sounded upset, not in the normal angry way, but rather in a worried way, as if how she looked to him suddenly mattered a great deal.

"Yeah," he continued. "You look even more frazzled and un-cute than usual," he taunted hoping to jar her into a mood he was actually familiar with.

"Oh," she whispered softly in disappointment, her eyes downcast and lifeless. "I see," she said sounding very glum all of a sudden.

This served to freak him out even more and he automatically began stuttering a retraction of his statement. "I-I'm just kidding Akane! Geez! Can't you take a joke anymore? You look fine!"

"Really?" she asked, perking up suddenly with a huge grin. He jerked backwards again, her sudden mood swings giving him whiplash.

"Well yeah, I mean fine as in normal not… Well, I mean, ugh…" he ended unintelligently. She giggled slightly at his nervousness and he suddenly started thinking about how she actually was pretty cute. However, he quickly decided changing the subject would be a safer course of action than continuing with that particular train of thought considering her current strange behavior. "So," he coughed. "What were you talking to Nabiki about anyway?"

Back to square one Akane's mind once again glazed over and she flushed desperate for an excuse. "Uh…" she began.

Suddenly Nabiki's door flung open and an outfit on a hanger was thrust into Akane's hands. "Here, this is the outfit you asked to borrow right?" Nabiki said. She had been listening to the lame conversation taking place on the other side of her door and was now attempting to provide her pathetic younger sister with an excuse for why she had been in her room moments before. Content that she had done just that, she nodded her head and then disappeared back into her room, the door clicking shut behind her.

Ranma scratched his head and began to flush slightly, staring at the sexy bunny costume Akane was currently holding. Confused and slightly frazzled by Nabiki's brief appearance she followed Ranma's line of sight down to the outfit and immediately turned bright red. "No! That's wrong!" she screeched. "It's not… I didn't…" she stammered to Ranma before giving up. "Ugh! Nabiki!" she shouted disappearing once again inside her older sister's room leaving a bewildered and embarrassed Ranma alone in the hallway.

Nabiki looked up at her sister who was pressed up against the door, a look of sheer horror on her face. "It was just a joke Akane! Don't be such a prude."

Akane ignored her words staring worriedly at her sister. "That's not it at all Nabiki! I think there is something seriously wrong with me!"

Time: 21:30

End of Phase 002.01, Mission Status: Failed

* * *

Date: Monday, March 1st, 2010

Time: 21:35

Location: Guest Room, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

"Yo, Pops. I think there's something seriously wrong with Akane," Ranma said as he entered the guest room they slept in and plopped down on his futon.

"What did you do this time Ranma?" his father grumbled.

"Me!?! Why do you always gotta assume it's me?

"Because it always is," he stated matter-of-factly. "Listen to me, Ranma, take it from someone that knows about women." Ranma scoffed at that but Genma simply ignored him before continuing in a conspiring tone. "Whether it's your fault she's mad or not, it's always best to apologize. It's much easier that way in the long run, and a lot less hassle. If you don't apologize, then you have to listen to them whine on and on about all the things you have screwed up on and why you should be oh so sorry. Eventually they wear you down enough to the point that you have to apologize just to get them to shut up! Trust me, much less painful to apologize up front and get it over with."

"Okay yah, whatever," Ranma said while rolling his eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion his father was talking about his own relationship with his wife rather than Ranma's relationship with Akane. "But I never said she was mad in the first place. She's just acting weird."

"She's mad."

"How can you be so sure? I already said I didn't do nothing!"

"Because my boy, when it comes to you, she's always mad. Just go apologize; otherwise she'll make you regret it."

"I'm not gonna apologize! I didn't do nothing this time!"

Finally Genma simply shrugged before rolling over onto his side. "Your funeral," he yawned before falling asleep.

Ranma glared at his father who was as usual absolutely no help to him at all. He then crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the wall, contemplating the 'wisdom' of his father's words. _"Could she be mad at me? Nah. It's something else. After all, she didn't act mad. In fact when I insulted her, she didn't hit me or insult me back like usual. She just got all depressed or something. What's that all about anyway? I was just teasing her. It's what I do! She should know that by now." _He pondered that thought further, wondering why it was he always had to pick on her. He tried to stop, but ultimately he couldn't because it was just too much fun messing with the tomboy. He smirked, thinking about how cute she looked whenever she got all bent out of shape, with her eyes narrowed, her lips turned downwards in an angry pout and her hands on her hips as she recounted some important little lecture that he was usually too distracted to pay much attention to. He figured he should probably take her moods more seriously, but he couldn't help being amused by how she got so bent out of shape over every little thing. It was freaking adorable.

Ranma sighed to himself, that particular thought troubling him. _"Adorable huh?"_ He didn't even bother denying those thoughts to himself anymore. He'd gotten over that a long time ago. The more he thought about it the more he realized he had never actually been successful in convincing himself that she was un-cute. And as far as her being a tomboy, well, that much was true, but he hardly considered it a fault on her part. The only reason he teased her about it was because he knew it bothered her. But as far as he was concerned, he actually preferred her that way. He honestly had no idea how to get along with a normal girl that was too… Girly. What would he ever have in common with a girl like that? No, he definitely didn't mind her being a tomboy, and if she'd known how he really felt on the issue she'd consider the statement a compliment. But he couldn't very well let her know all of that. After all, she always looked the cutest when she was angry and feisty, which usually happened right after he finished calling her an un-cute tomboy. Hence his dilemma.

Still, that particular dilemma was the least of his troubles. Admitting she was cute was one thing, but admitting how he felt about her was another issue entirely. It was all very new to him, acknowledging his feelings. He'd been perfectly content to go on practicing techniques and fighting battles, avoiding girls and living life as it came at him one day and one fight at a time, rushing through life at a blindingly fast pace. But then everything had come to a crashing halt in China at Jusendo when he'd thought he'd lost her forever. In that moment he had been frozen and time had suddenly come to an abrupt standstill leaving him to wonder at what point he had started living and breathing and moving forward just for her. Leaving him to wonder what he would do if she wasn't beside him.

Like most things in his life, her death hadn't seemed fair. He'd done everything within his power to save her. He'd fought for her and her alone. Nothing else had mattered at that point. He had even killed for her. It was the only way he could have saved her. But then despite his efforts for one long agonizing moment he'd thought he had been too late. And it wasn't until he'd held her lifeless body in his arms that he'd discovered the truth. He loved her. He'd always loved her, only her, and he would continue loving her until the day he died. And there was no coming back from that realization. Even though she had come back to him and he'd denied it to her, he couldn't deny it to himself any longer.

He had been glad to return home with her and have thing return to 'normal.' But unfortunately things weren't normal anymore. For now he was aware of a desire within him that he had suppressed for too long and couldn't deny any longer. He ached to be near her, and to touch her, hold her close, breathe her in…

Yes, things were definitely different now. Even though a part of him was content to let things stay as they were, fighting, name calling and constant misunderstandings with other girls and potential suitors included, he knew perfectly well that he would never be able to go back to the days where he pretended she meant nothing to him. Like it or not, the words he'd said had changed everything, and he was eventually going to have to do something about them. After all, a part of him that had remained dormant for so long was now desperate for something more with the short haired girl that seemed intent on overtaking his ever action and thought. Maybe not marriage, not yet at least, but surely there could be _something_ more than what they currently had.

He frowned deep in thought trying to decide what that 'something' might be. Not for the first time he wished his life was simpler. He wondered what it would be like living without any engagements and how being free from any conflicting and unwanted obligations would have impacted his relationship with Akane. He probably would have chosen to be with her on his own. There were after all so many things he liked about her. Not only was she cute, but she was fun, witty, clever, spirited and a whole bunch of other things that he found oh so attractive. Plus, she was always caring for him when it really mattered. Sure, they fought rather frequently but if he was upset or worried, and when everyone else abandoned him in his times of trouble, she was always there, despite how hard he tried to hide the fact that he was actually in need of her. He would have loved her without the engagement. In fact, he would have been closer to her without the engagement. It was unfortunately one of the many barriers that kept them apart. Kept them from growing closer, kept them from admitting their feelings, kept them from kissing…

He let out a long drawn out sigh. That more than anything was what frustrated him. Even before he'd known how he felt for her, he'd wondered what it would be like. He wanted to kiss her. Man, how he had wanted to kiss her on so many different occasions. He'd dreamed of what it would be like so many times. He'd imagined her long delicate fingers running through his hair or curled into his shirt, her slender arms wrapped around his neck and her soft pink lips pressed against his own. For months he had ached for it, dreamed of it, and they had been so close at times that he could almost taste her. But he always backed away, never going through with it, mostly because he knew the minute he did kiss her, life as he knew it would be over. He knew perfectly well that when it came to Akane Tendo, a kiss could never be just a kiss.

If he kissed her then he would have to admit that he cared about her. And if he did that, he'd have to call off the other engagements which would of course mean opening a big can of worms the likes of which Pandora would have avoided. And then, finally if he did somehow manage to clear up all their little obstacles, and live to tell about it, he'd have to get married to her. It wasn't that he didn't want to admit that he liked her, or that he would miss being engaged to three different women, but he really didn't want to marry her. At least not yet. It wasn't the girl that was the problem, it was the obligation. They were only 16 after all, and he was still in training, not to mention he hadn't finished high school yet (the later excuse being something he didn't particularly care about, but it was a valid point he could use nonetheless). However, dating, holding hands, kissing, now _that_ was something he could go along with. Unfortunately, as he had lamented earlier, his life was not simple, and therefore he could not have one without the other. If he wanted to date her then he'd have to marry her. _"Ugh, my life is so messed up…"_

"_I should probably just marry her and get it over with…" _He checked his thoughts there. 'Getting it over with' probably wasn't the best choice of words. He still got nervous thinking about marriage, especially at his current point in life, but he was growing very fond of Akane, more so each day and if dating her, kissing her, just generally being with her meant he would eventually have to marry her he felt he could live with that. He was getting a little tired of stalling, especially now that his inevitable fate had turned into something he actually wanted as opposed to a family obligation he had rejected for so long.

He rested his chin in his hand, staring at the door, indecisiveness overtaking him. Not a single decision in his life came easily and without the weight of a lifetime riding upon it. _"It's not fair,"_ he decided. He wished he could just be normal and simply ask the girl he liked out on a date without thousands of repercussions riding on that single action. It made him feel… Lonely. The weight of that word and that admission suddenly seemed so heavy. He was tired of being alone, especially when it was so unnecessary. He was suddenly certain that any consequences he might experience in the face of moving forward would still be preferable to what he was going through at that very moment.

"_Akane's a nice girl,"_ he thought as he slowly stood, his legs feeling as heavy as stone as he tried to drag himself to the door, intent on speaking with her. "_Sure she has a temper, but she's not completely unreasonable."_ He swallowed a lump in his throat coming to a stop just in front of the door. _"I'll just try and talk to her. See if anything comes out of it. Even if she doesn't feel the same way, it can't be that bad. It's not like she's going to mock me or tell anyone what an idiot I am for saying how I feel." _Despite his words to the contrary he realized he was very afraid that she would do exactly that. Laugh at him, mock him, deny him… And so he stood, his hand frozen over the handle of the door, trying to decide once and for all what he would do.

Time: 22:00

* * *

Date: Monday, March 1st, 2010

Time: 21:30

Location: Bedroom of Subject 002, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Phase 002.02

"What the heck, Akane? I said to act naturally! What exactly was that whole display with Ranma all about?"

"I have no idea!" cried the younger Tendo as she shrank down to sit on the floor and buried her face in her hands. "I acted like a complete idiot!" Nabiki simply nodded and suppressed the urge to laugh at her younger sister who looked completely miserable at that moment. "He asked me what you and I were talking about and instead of thinking of a reasonable answer I found myself thinking about..." Akane suddenly started to blush and gave up on her line of conversation. "Well, something else," she ended lamely.

"Something distracting you Sister Dear?" Akane's blush deepening further was all the confirmation she needed that her suspicion was correct.

"What did you do to me!?" Akane asked accusingly. "You somehow managed to completely screw me up in the head with all those conflicting words of 'advice' you gave me!"

"Me? Come now, I was only trying to help!"

"Well obviously you didn't!"

"Hey now, don't go blaming me for this. It's not my fault you're getting all flustered around Ranma because you find him sooo cute," Nabiki drawled, giving her best impression of Akane's earlier declaration of Ranma's more attractive points.

Akane's anger deflated with her embarrassment and she sighed in defeat. "I don't get it!" She groaned. "Why am I suddenly acting like such an idiot around him? Nothing changed! We're still the same people!"

"What did you expect? You two have been denying your feelings forever! Of course facing those feelings is going to make you act crazy. It's simple really, you're scared of what's going to happen if you open up."

"I'm not scared! I'm just…"

"Trust me, you're scared. But you need to get over it. Otherwise you're going to ruin this plan of ours before it even gets started." Nabiki paused then, considering her sister for a moment. "Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if you can pull this off at all."

Her head snapped up, a look of determination on her face. "Of course I can!"

Nabiki smirked to herself. Her sister was always such an easy mark, governed too much by her pride and her emotions. "I don't know," she mused in a convincing play of skepticism. "Maybe this is a waste of time after all, for the both of us I mean. You're probably better off just leaving things the way they were before. Let's just call it off. I won't tell anyone what you told me, I promise. At least not right away," she added with a wicked grin.

"No!" Akane practically begged. "Nabiki, don't tell anyone! I'll… I'll pull it together. I promise!"

Nabiki let out a long, drawn out sigh pretending to sound reluctant. "Well, alright, if you think you can handle it we can give this another shot, I suppose."

"Thank you Nabiki! I won't let you down," she said confidently. However, as soon as she spun around to exit the room she stopped, her confidence vanishing as the possibility struck her that Ranma might be standing on the other side of the door.

"Something the matter?" Nabiki called.

"No. N-Nothing… Just…"

"Not sure how to act if you run into him again?"

Akane sighed and hung her head nodding once, ashamed at just how pathetic she was behaving. "What am I supposed to do? How do I stop acting like an idiot?"

"Do something normal. Go pick a fight with him or something. But it has to be a fight that doesn't result in property damage," she added, reminding her sister of their earlier deal.

"But Nabiki I want him to like me! Shouldn't I stop fighting with him?"

"Oh please. You two haven't had a real fight in ages. Your little spats are nothing more than immature foreplay."

"N-Nabiki!" Akane squealed in embarrassment, her face once again turning bright red.

Nabiki smirked at her sister before continuing. "Look, forget about all that stuff I said before. I was mostly just messing with you. When it comes to Ranma at least you really don't have much to worry about with this whole plot anyway. It's how you act around everyone else that's the real problem. But keep in mind Ranma's just as awkward and as bad at relationships as you are. Any weirdness on your part will probably just be mirrored by him. I doubt he'll read much into it. Just try and act like you used to."

"Okay..." she said uncertainly, finding it suddenly impossible to remember how that looked.

Nabiki sighed in frustration and clarified her previous statement further. "For starters, you tend to get mad at every little thing he does, and he freaks out whenever you yell at him…" she prompted.

"Right! Okay, I think I can do that!" she said with a renewed confidence as she started once more for the door.

"Before you go Akane, there's one last thing that's very important!"

"And what's that?" Akane asked facing her once more.

"That'll be 500 yen for the distraction I provided earlier."

"NABIKI!"

"I'm just joking of course," Nabiki laughed with a wave of her hand. "After all the first one's on the house," she said growing serious once more. "Now remember, act natural!"

"I know, I know," Akane said. Then with a hmph, she spun around and exited the room to once again come face to face with her fiancé standing in the hallway.

"Hey, uh Akane, I uh..."

"Out of my way you jerk!" she yelled storming past him without a second glance.

"Yeagh!" Ranma yelped as he jumped to move out of her path.

Nabiki watched the exchange and slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh boy. I shouldn't have generalized on the anger thing. I should've known she'd take it too far…"

Time: 22:00

End of Phase 002.02, Mission Status: Failed

Phase 002 Abandoned

Commencing Phase 003.01

…End Transmission…

* * *

Author's Notes:

Check out my profile and vote in my newest poll, as it relates to this story. I have several match ups to cover, but the order in which I address them can easily be switched around without affecting the story too much. So give me some feedback on which matches I should cover first and vote! Or you could always... I don't know, express your opinions in a review??? Please?

Yay! Done! I'll tell you this chapter has been so horrible to me, it's not even funny. It shouldn't have been that bad actually, and I was almost done with it over two weeks ago, but then my stupid USB drive malfunctioned and deleted the entire document! Didn't just not save my changes, nope, deleted it COMPLETELY! Ugh. Fortunately I had an older version saved on my computer and a bunch or random notes I had emailed to myself from my Blackberry, so I was able to recover a lot of it, but then I ended up having a lot of trouble with Ranma's introspection because I had all these randomly saved pieces and thoughts to mesh together and was having a heck of a time trying to do so. Then as I worked on it I would keep getting frustrated because nothing was matching correctly and would just re-write the whole thing. But then there were parts of the old that I liked better than the new and vice versa so ultimately I ended up with even more pieces that I had to try and tie together... Ugh! A huge disaster I tell you. Especially since introspections for me can be dangerous since I have a tendency to go on long winded tangents with them. Editing introspections is yet another dilemma because I really like a lot of stuff I come up with, but recognize that it is too much so then I have to do away with entire paragraphs. Believe it or not Ranma's thoughts went from five pages to two! Sigh. Oh well, rest in pieces my random well thought out paragraphs on Ranma's inner-most feelings for Akane… :-(

Anyway, thank you everyone that took the time to review! I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter. I personally think its a little bit better since it starts getting into the actual story a bit. With the last post I mentioned I was considering cutting this chapter. I eventually decided against that and went with the tangent I had in mind. However, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, that means the plot to this story just about doubled in size. So now instead of having one chapter devoted to Akane acting weird and out of character and everyone else acting strange in response, I'm going to have several chapters, each involving Akane trying to act a certain way that is ultimately never normal but always hilarious and involves disastrous results. But seriously, don't go critiquing my story on the grounds that Akane is out of character, because that IS the point. ;-p

Still, I doubt this story will go beyond 10 chapters. Probably two or three more involving Akane acting weird, four to deal with the other characters and one to tie it all up! Hope everyone's enjoying this. I'm having fun with it myself.

Please continue to review as it definitely helps with my writing process! And please check out some of my other stories while you're waiting for updates.

Thanks for reading! Ja ne!

~ C ~


	3. MI003 Diversion Tactic: Anger

Chapter 3: Diversion Tactic: Anger

AKA: Codename: Red Tempest

* * *

…Begin Transmission…

File: MI003

Date: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Time: 16:30

Location: Guest Room, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Understanding Women

"Stupid Akane!" Ranma cursed loudly as he entered his room and slammed his book bag down on the floor. "What is _with _her today!" he growled while plopping down on the floor and tearing through his bag in search of a specific homework assignment.

The day had not gone well for him. The previous night he had spent the better part of a half hour trying to convince himself to go and speak with Akane, only to be pushed aside before he had even gotten the words out. She had yelled at him, for who knows what reason and then retreated to her room where she had remained for the rest of the evening. The set back had been discouraging, but he was prepared to treat the conversation he wanted to have with her like any other opposition he had faced in the past, which meant he was not going to give up until he had told her how he really felt about her. After all, he was Ranma Saotome, and Ranma Saotome would not admit defeat to anyone or anything, no matter what. He responded as he did with any challenge that he initially failed. He prepared for the next confrontation. He plotted, he practiced, he trained himself, and fed his ego as much as possible in order to gain the confidence he needed for a perfect execution of his newest technique that he had aptly dubbed the Saotome Anything Goes Method for Telling a Girl How You Really Feel About Her Without Bowing or Scraping or Sounding Stupid or Unmanly or Weak or Agreeing to Marriage.

"_I should really abbreviate the name of that technique or something," _he reflected to himself briefly before returning to his initial train of thought.

He had intended to strike first thing in the morning before she had a chance to confront him or approach him about anything and had intended to simply come right out with it. Nothing complicated or flowery like the stupid Upperclassman Kuno would have said. He would simply ask her out, sounding cool and casual and not the least bit intimidated or worried about what her inevitable response would be. That was step one of his plan. He figured he could worry about the rest later. No need to rush into some stupid confession, he'd figured. At least not right away. It would have been the perfect execution. There would have been no successful counter. She obviously would have to have said yes. How could she not? After all, he was irresistible to women. Unfortunately he had been short sighted and had missed the one fatal flaw within his plan… Since he had stayed up too late working on his 'genius plan' he had failed to wake up in time to effectively execute it, which meant the first point of the day had gone to his opponent. Or in other words, he had overslept and in order to wake him up she had dumped a bucket of cold water on him.

"Un-cute tomboy," he muttered under his breath. "Can't believe I ever thought she was cute when she was angry," he continued, as he reflected on her behavior over the course of the rest of the day.

Unfortunately her pre-emptive move had only been the start of what he would endure from Akane that day, because from morning until afternoon, all through breakfast, their walk to school and all their classes, they had done nothing but fight about stupid, meaningless, little things.

The first fight started when he yelled at her for throwing cold water on him first thing in the morning and she returned with insults about how she was sick of being late to school because he was too lazy to wake up on time. Then after he changed back to a guy, and made his way down to the breakfast table, they'd fought about his horrific table manners. He was already annoyed with her at that point for giving him such a rude awakening that morning, and had therefore responded to her insults with a few of his own. His stupid father had decided to weigh in on that exchange and after Ranma refused to apologize to Akane despite, or rather in spite, of his father's instance, both Saotome men had gotten into an all out fight which like most fights between the two ended with both of them falling rather ungracefully into the koi pond. And as Ranma removed his drenched shirt from his feminine frame, Akane had started on one of her lectures about his lack of feminine modesty which led to a lecture of his own regarding Akane's lack of feminine appeal. And strangely enough that had not led to a malleting but rather more bickering.

Which in his book could be just as bad.

They had then gone on to argue about whether or not he had time to change and Akane had berated him again for the fact that he was going to make them late. Then on the way to school they'd been so busy arguing about what time it actually was that Ranma had completely forgotten about the ladle lady and had gotten hit with a spoonful of water. As they made their way to Tofu's clinic for hot water, Akane had no difficulty voicing her disapproval of his 'stupidity' and 'carelessness' making them even more late. Then at the clinic, Ranma was annoyed to find that Akane's bad mood apparently only pertained to him. After all, she had been perfectly capable of acting all sweet and cutesy in front of Dr. Tofu. That had somehow brought up old insecurities on his part and he had responded by accusing Akane of still having feelings for the doctor. He even threw in some admonishments about how it was not very nice to try and steal her older sister's boyfriend, not that she had any chance of doing so with her lack of sex appeal of course. Akane found his accusations utterly ridiculous and insulting and of course made those sentiments known.

Halfway through their walk to school Akane had seemed to calm down. Or rather she had run out of things to pick fights about and had therefore stopped talking to him completely, which gave the illusion that she was in a better mood. Until that moment he had been so busy bickering with her that he had completely forgotten about his resolution from the previous night. However, with the lull in conversation he was able to remember that he was supposed to be trying to get closer to her. After thinking up what he thought was the perfect approach he had cleared his throat and conversationally pointed out a cloud in the sky that looked like a duck. He'd expected her to make some exclamation about how cute it was and he would respond by saying she was cuter. _"The perfect setup!"_ Or so he'd thought. Instead she looked at the cloud briefly and then contrarily insisted it looked like some dorky rabbit. Ranma had bristled and responded that she was dorkier. And so they'd spent the rest of the trip to school arguing about the weather and its cloud formations.

Their arguments had only gotten more and more ridiculous from that point forward. At school they'd been assigned as partners for their final literature assignment, and Ranma had been glad for it, thinking it would give him a chance to speak to her. However, instead of 'talking' they had somehow ended up arguing, not about the assignment itself, but rather the correct spelling of their literature teacher's name. They'd ended up using the entire amount of time allotted to do the assignment in class debating it in aggravated whispers, so as not to disrupt the students around them. At lunch he'd pointed out how Hiroshi seemed interested in Akane's friend Yuka in hopes that he could swing the conversation around to the topic of their own relationship, but instead they'd started fighting about whether or not Hiroshi was good enough for Yuka. He vaguely remembered bits and pieces of other random fights about stupid stuff, like whether a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable, whether a doughnut was acceptable breakfast food or not, and whether or not aliens existed. They'd even fought about the probability of Godzilla taking out King Kong in an Anything Goes Martial Arts fight.

_"Where did that argument come from anyway? Oh yeah, I remember. I was trying to compliment her in gym class for being strong, but for some reason she took me comparing her to a gorilla as an insult. Then for no good reason she compared me to a slimy lizard to prove a point or something and somehow that turned into King Kong verses Godzilla."_ He shook his head in bewilderment. _"Yeesh, talk about a stupid argument. Obviously Godzilla would win, but that's hardly the point..."_

The rest of the day had followed in a similar manner. Ranma kept trying to come up with new strategies and approaches for communicating his feelings, and Akane kept countering with some stupid argument. Inevitably they had ended up fighting about whether or not they were fighting too much. Ranma was convinced that there was something wrong with Akane and she of course had denied it. That had led to a fight about Nabiki since Ranma suspected she had something to do with Akane's odd behavior. Akane had ended up defending her older sister when Ranma went on about how Nabiki was manipulative and couldn't be trusted. That had apparently been the final straw in their arguments, because both had gone on to avoid each other the rest of the day and had even returned home separately.

"So much for telling her how I actually feel. You know what? Forget it!" he fumed as he scribbled furiously on a sheet of paper. "I've had enough! If that's how she's going to be, who needs her? We are through! If I never talk to her again it will be too soon!" he shouted even as he finished his writing, tore it from his notebook and stormed down the hall to her room failing to recognize that his actions were in complete contradiction to his resolution.

Time: 16:40

* * *

Date: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Time: 16:30

Location: Bedroom of Subject 001, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Diversion

Action: Anger

Phase 003.436

Mission Status: Phases 003.001 – 003.435 successful but unsatisfactory

"Stupid Ranma!" Akane fumed to herself as she entered her room and threw her book bag on the floor before changing into her gi. "That was a complete disaster!" she shouted, as she roughly hung her uniform back on its hanger. She glanced at the clock and noticing she still had a half hour before her training session with Nabiki, let out a deep sigh before collapsing face first on her bed. "Honestly! He really is an idiot. How can he possibly think that an awkward oversized lizard could take out King Kong anyway?" she mumbled to herself absently.

Another sigh and she began to deflate. "Oh, right. I almost forgot. Ranma's not here so I can stop being mad now. After all, I was just pretending to be mad before. At least I think I was... Ugh. This is so lame!" Thinking back, she realized he hadn't really done anything at all through the course of the day that had made her legitimately angry. She had expected and hoped that he would leave her alone after realizing she was in a 'bad mood' but he hadn't. Instead he kept coming around her for some reason and trying to start up conversations, which would have been nice if it wasn't for the fact that she had to keep concocting reasons to be mad at him. It had been exhausting and pointless, especially since all their arguments had been over trivial little things that she honestly couldn't care less about. She'd never thought about it before, but acting angry when she wasn't actually angry took a lot more energy than she would have expected, and nitpicking in order to make up excuses to put on a display of anger was incredibly depressing and had the tendency to put her in a bad mood for real. Plus the constant strain of fighting about mundane everyday occurrences had truly left her drained.

"At least I was successful in not rousing anyone's suspicions," she said trying to look on the bright side as she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "And Ukyo didn't come around at lunch, probably satisfied with watching us argue from afar. Shampoo didn't stop by either. Maybe if they had I would have had something to legitimately be upset about. Although I wouldn't have been able to show it then because I'm supposed to act like I'm not jealous around them." She groaned knowing just how infuriating that would be. She had never really enjoyed being angry and had always considered her temper a flaw. And today had been troubling even when she knew her anger was all a pretense, because each insult he flung back at her hurt her even worse than it ever had before. It affected her more now that she had admitted to herself how important his opinion of her truly was, and seeds of doubt were starting to form again. What if it had all been a mistake? What if he didn't love her after all? What would she do then?

She knew she loved him now, and was done denying it, at least to herself. She wanted to be honest and to move forward, which was why she had come up with her whole plan to begin with. But now she felt as if it was causing more harm than good, and drifting further apart from him because of her stupid plan to get closer was annoyingly counter-productive.

"But what else can I do? It's either this or I go back to acting like an idiot around him, and then he and everyone else will be able to figure out what I'm planning before I even get a chance to resolve anything. No, Ranma and I can't have a real relationship at all unless we are able to deal with the issues with his other fiancées first." She thought back to the disaster that had occurred at their wedding that weekend and considered as she had many times before the numerous different tragic consequences that could have occurred. Despite how dramatic the altercations had been, she knew perfectly well it could have all been a lot worse.

"Ugh!" She squeezed her eyes shut and in the process the moisture that had been welling in her eyes rushed out, falling in two twin rivers down her cheeks. "Why does everything have to be so difficult with us? It's so… So… Unfair!" she cried draping an arm across her forehead and giving in to her misery.

It wasn't long before a sharp knock came at her door. She assumed it was Nabiki, checking to see if she was ready for their practice, or possibly Kasumi, and as she was too weary to care about either of them finding her in her current state she made no effort to move, merely calling out, "Yes?" in a listless voice.

The door opened swiftly and Ranma's angry voice immediately filled the small confines of her room. "Yo Akane!" he bellowed. Her eyes immediately snapped open and she scrambled to sit up, wiping quickly and discretely at the wetness on her face. She sat up rigidly, and it was clear even to him that she had not been expecting he was the one that had knocked. All of this gave him pause and his temper was momentarily forgotten, especially at the sight of her slightly red eyes which were pointedly avoiding making contact with his own.

He briefly wondered if she was feeling ill, or tired, but that didn't seem to make sense considering how 'energetic' she had seemed throughout the day, vigorously lunging upon any opportunity to start an argument with him. For the first time it occurred to him that possibly there was something wrong with her that could account not only for her current behavior but the temper she had displayed earlier. That thought worried him and he found his own anger slipping away automatically to be replaced with his concern for her.

"Hey, uh, A-kane. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," she answered hollowly, then almost as if it were an afterthought added, "Dummy, why would there be anything wrong? You caught me by surprise is all."

"Oh, I uh, knocked."

"I know. I just didn't expect it was you."

Her snooty tone irritated him and he bristled in response, his anger coming back to him with renewed tenacity. "Is there a problem with it being me?"

"What's with that question?" she asked, a scowl crossing her features as she turned to look at him. "Did I say it was a problem?"

"No, but the way you've been acting all temperamental around me I figured you wouldn't be too happy to see me."

"Then what are you doing here? Trying to bother me more?"

"No! I just needed to talk to you."

"Well then, what? Talk! And for crying out loud, don't just stand there, are you going to come in or aren't you?"

"I'm not so sure I want to anymore. Don't really care to get my head bit off yet again."

He barely caught it, but she flinched briefly before setting her jaw and moving to sit at her desk. "Fine then. Either come in or don't. I don't care either way," she sniffed, her back to him as she began pulling out her school work from her book bag.

He hesitated for a moment before stepping inside. "Fine. Here," he shouted as he threw down his sheet of paper on her desk as if issuing a challenge.

She looked at it with a furrowed brow for a moment before deftly picking it up and reading it out loud. "'How aggravating it is to seek an audience with you only to be brushed aside.' Huh?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at him questioningly.

"Don't go getting the wrong idea or nothing." He grumbled crossing his arms and turning his head away from her in a gesture of indifference. "It's not a love letter or nothing."

"Clearly!" Akane scoffed, letting out a short laugh. "No one would mistake this drabble for a love letter," she taunted as she again examined the sloppy scratchings.

He glared at her before continuing. "It's the first part of our literature assignment. You know? Conduct a conversation with your partner in the style of the letters exchanged in that stupid long book we were supposed to read? Tale of Benji or whatever?"

"Supposed to read? You didn't read it at all, did you?"

"Hey! I read... Some of it."

"What, a chapter?"

"Or two, what's your point? It was rather boring. Kept putting me to sleep. I couldn't figure out what the heck they were talking about with all that stupid prose. Besides, there are other things I'd rather be doing."

"Figures. Only you would find one the most famous books in Japanese literature boring," she grumbled as she grabbed a pen and the book in question which she nodded towards. "And for the record, its Tale of Genji, you dope, not Benji."

"Close enough!" he yelled. "Benji, Genji, what's the difference?"

"Well for starters," she explained as she simultaneously flipped through several pages in the book and started neatly writing her response to his initial prose below his own while occasionally checking the book in reference. "Genji was a prince from the Heian period while Benji was a dog." She then raised a thoughtful eyebrow before musing out loud. "Then again maybe the two are rather similar. In fact you should have actually read the book. Might have found you have a lot in common with that womanizing dog," she muttered under her breath.

"Hey now!" he grumbled. "Who you calling a womanizer?"

"The other dummy standing in my room of course," she muttered in a sarcastic tone as she handed the paper back to him. "Here, your turn."

He took the paper and read it his face immediately contorting in confusion. "'How typical for the Sakura which blooms for one short season to think only of its fallen blossoms. But what of the Weeping Willow that stands alone in wait through all the seasons?'" he stared at the note for a moment trying to make sense of it. "Huh? What the heck is that supposed to mean? Why are you talking about trees?"

"It's symbolism, Dummy. That was actually the point of the assignment you know? The members of the Heian court would compare each other to birds or flowers or something in order to convey what they were thinking and feeling. It's more poetic and meaningful that way. Not to mention it sounds better and less abrupt and crude."

He glared at her offhanded insult. "Or in other words, it's gibberish and makes absolutely no sense."

She sighed again and rolled her eyes. "In lay-man's terms, the 'Sakura,' which is never around or available for an 'audience' as you put it is complaining because the 'Willow,' tired of waiting all year long for the Sakura, is not currently available for a 'discussion.'"

He looked at her note again. "So what I'm supposed to be the Weeping Willow?" He asked wrinkling his nose at the unmanly comparison.

Akane smirked. "No Ranma, I'm the Willow. You're the pretty little Sakura tree!"

His eyes shot from the paper to her and immediately narrowed into a glare. Snatching her pen from her grasp he leaned over her desk and began to furiously write his response. When he was done he flicked the pen back on the table and shoved the paper roughly towards her, crossing his arms against his chest and looking rather smug and proud of himself.

"'How can you, as fickle and changing in temperament as the wind speak of constancy? If I truly were a Sakura all my blossoms would be blown away early under the torment of your anger. Fortunately a Pine Tree is a more fitting comparison, for the wind may strike at one with insults constantly, but the Pine Tree will still remain strong and un-yielding and unaffected by such unimportant trifles.'"

Akane wrinkled her nose at the response she had read aloud and considered complaining about him not sticking to the established two line format, but was interrupted.

"Or in lay-man's terms," he said in a mocking tone. "Sticks and stones and all that nonsense."

Akane rolled her eyes before rising to his challenge with her next response which he read when she was done.

"'If the wind is truly inconsequential to the Pine Tree then it seems strange to object so strongly to its temperaments and general being. Could it be it is truly 'pining' away?'"

"Why would I be pining for..."

Akane cut him off, by merely holding the pen up to him.

He looked irritated for a moment before an evil grin crossed his features and he grabbed the pen from her. "Fine, have it your way," he smirked as he began to write, barely containing his mirth. Curiosity got the best of her and she found herself watching as he wrote the words. But before he had a chance to finish her face grew red in agitation and horror.

"RANMA! King Kong? Seriously?"

"Its symbolism!" he laughed. "That is the point of the assignment after all isn't it?"

"Write something else!"

"No!"

"The teacher's going to fail us! It's not the kind of thing you're supposed to write!"

"Says who?"

"Says me! Says the assignment! Honestly I can't believe how stupid you can be sometimes!"

"Me stupid? You're the one that thinks King Kong's better than Godzilla."

"You're still on that? Honestly you are so stubborn! King Kong could crush Godzilla with his giant fists. All Godzilla can do is breathe fire."

"It's atomic breath! Atomic breath I tell you, and what's wrong with that?"

"It's hardly a real technique."

"What do you mean? It's just as effective as any chi blast."

"My point exactly. Chi blasts aren't real attacks, it's just cheating. Don't even have to get close to your target with them and you end up using all your energy."

"You calling me a cheater now?"

"No. I'm calling your stupid mentor Godzilla a cheater. And a stupid looking monster."

"King Kong's just as stupid looking."

"He is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is... Ugh! Never mind! This is ridiculous, and you're as un-cute as ever. Fine, we're going to settle this once and for all!"

"Oh really? And how do you propose we do that?"

"You, me, Thursday night, we watch the movie."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a monster movie marathon on Thursday night, showing a bunch of old movies, including King Kong vs. Godzilla."

"Yeah right, you're just making that up. How would you know about something like that anyway?"

Ranma shrugged. "Daisuke likes that kinda stuff and was telling me about it the other day. I happened to remember it. So what do you say? We stay up, watch the movie and find out who's right and who has to buy the other person dinner."

Akane's expression changed abruptly and her eyes grew wide as she stared at him in surprise. "D-Dinner?"

"Yeah," Ranma paused finally realizing what he had just proposed. _"Did I seriously just accidentally do what I've been trying to do all day? Did I just ask her out?" _

He swallowed a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. The way she stared at him intently, waiting for his next words was not unpleasant, but it was certainly unnerving. "A-As a wager, you know. Not like a uh... Uh..." He paused again, noticing the slight droop in her expression as she anticipated him denying what it was he had suggested. _"Oh come on, you already did it. Don't back out now."_

"What do you say?" he asked. He wouldn't define it, but he wasn't going to deny what the invitation was either. "Is it a deal?"

She looked at the hand he had stretched out to her as an afterthought for a moment, stunned, unable to comprehend what this had all meant. Then finally her eyes raised to his own, and her lips parted slowly to respond. But then all rational thought left her. _"Oh crud," _she thought. _"I'm losing my concentration again. What do I do? I'm supposed to be arguing with him, but I... I..."_

Whatever she would have responded was lost as Nabiki poked her head in the open door. "Ready Sis?" she asked, quickly taking in and assessing the scene before her which included two red faces, and quickly averted eyes. This was all followed by Akane lunging to her feet and bolting for the door.

"Ready!" Akane called to her sister. "We'll finish the assignment later Ranma!" she yelled.

And then she was gone, leaving Ranma alone in her room trying desperately to figure out what had just happened. "Gah!" he yelled suddenly in frustration at being left without an answer to the question he had finally been able to ask. "What is with that girl anyway?"

Time: 16:55

* * *

Date: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Time: 16:55

Location: Tendo House and Dojo, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 002: Tendo Nabiki

Objective: Training

Nabiki stalked down the hall and the stairs with her younger sister close behind, keeping her stoic mask in place as Akane continued to frantically whisper her newfound dilemma in frantic tones.

"…And then he asked me to dinner, and he didn't say it was a date, but it sounds like a date and he didn't deny that it was a date, although for a moment I thought he was going to do just that, but then he didn't, so now I'm wondering if maybe…"

Nabiki rolled her eyes and tuned her sister out as she continued through the house, and towards the catwalk leading to the dojo. She had other things to worry about that took precedence over Akane's current self inflicted identity crisis. _"I know I agreed to help Akane and play matchmaker so she could win over Ranma, but this is ridiculous! I never agreed to play the role of her personal relationship counselor! I doubt Freud would even be up to the task of ironing out all the issues those two have!" _Nabiki inwardly sighed. It was true to a certain degree that the other fiancées and suitors Ranma and Akane had accumulated had caused a fair share of problems for the two. However, the reluctant couple shared a large portion of the responsibility for the issues in their relationship as well, and pretty soon, if everything went according to plan, their convenient excuse of others interfering would no longer be available to them. By the end of the month Nabiki expected everything would fall into place, and then Akane and Ranma would have no one to blame for their problems but themselves. They were going to have to grow up and start handling things like adults. Alone. As in no help from Nabiki or anyone else for that matter. If they couldn't do that… Well, then maybe it wasn't meant to be after all. If they couldn't work out their menial differences now, how would they ever be able to handle a lifetime of marriage?

Nabiki frowned. _"I wonder if Akane is really up to what I have in mind for this plan I'm putting together. Maybe I should put an end to it now while I still can. If she can't pull herself together and gain control of her emotions then how…" _She shook her head to clear her thoughts as they neared the entrance to the dojo. _"No, I'm going to see this through until the end. After all, Akane's not the only one affected by this. I'm not only doing this for her. She probably doesn't even know why I agreed. Probably doesn't care." _That thought caused prickling sensations of annoyance to run up and down her spine and she felt her mood darkening. _"She can really be such a spoiled, self-centered brat! Seriously! Does she have any idea how hard it was for me to come to her of all people for help with this?"_

By then they had entered the dojo, and Nabiki turned to glance at her sister who was still rambling at an astounding pace without bothering to take a breath. She scowled and tapped her foot impatiently before taking a deep breath and shouting into the megaphone she whipped out of thin air. "AKANE!" she yelled.

"Yeaghuaag! What!?!" Akane screeched after collapsing to the floor in a stunned, deaf heap.

"What time is it?" Nabiki asked in a saccharine sweet voice.

"Gee, I don't know, must be almost 5:00…"

"It is! 5:00 exactly, and do you know what that means?"

"Yeah, sure we're supposed to practice at 5:00."

"Exactly. We're supposed to come here, and you're supposed to train me for an hour in exchange for my services in assisting you with your little project."

"I know all that! But what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you're on my time now, which means I don't want to hear a word about Ranma, Godzilla, King Kong or any stupid literature assignments until 6:00 when our little training session is completed. You got it?"

"Wh-ah! but Nabiki! That's not fair, I really, really need your advice on how to…"

"If you really, really need my advice then you'll be quiet now and start up holding your end of the agreement. Otherwise the deal's off."

"But… I…" She stuttered for a moment before wisely taking note of Nabiki's stern expression. She stomped her foot once in frustration and then with a huff spun on her heal and made her way to the center of the room where she tested a few kicks and punches as a means of warming up before facing her sister once more. "Okay fine. Have it your way," she grumbled begrudgingly. "I guess we should get started?"

"Yippee," Nabiki quipped. "Where do we start, Sensei?"

Akane scratched her head thoughtfully. "I don't know. It's not like I've ever done this before. What do you want to learn?"

"Doesn't matter. You're the instructor. Teach me whatever you see fit. You are the one in charge here."

Akane scoffed at that letting out a short laugh. "Doesn't feel like it," she muttered under her breath before dropping into a stance. Training had begun.

Time: 17:00

* * *

Date: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Time: 18:00

Location: Tendo Dojo, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

An hour later found both girls trading kicks and punches, Akane bouncing all around the room, parrying lightly and sluggishly as Nabiki trailed after her tripping forward in her attempts to land a blow. Akane grinned madly as she danced out of her range again and again in a display of agility.

"I don't think this is helping," Nabiki fumed. "And you are enjoying this way too MUCH!" she growled the last word, accentuating it with a punch towards Akane's midsection that Akane flipped over effortlessly, a smug smirk spreading across her face.

"He he. Maybe if you hadn't quit so many years ago you'd still hold your own against me."

Nabiki's mouth slipped into a tight lipped scowl and her eyes narrowed as she dropped her stance, concealing clenched fists at her side. _"She really doesn't have any idea, does she?"_

"That should be enough for today," Nabiki said flatly as she made her way to the corner of the room to retrieve a towel.

"Wow, has it been an hour already? Time flies when you're having fun, hmm?" Akane commented with a genuine grin.

"Yeah, whatever," Nabiki muttered in response facing away from her as she wiped at beads of sweat with her towel, lost in her own thoughts. Her little sister's chipper attitude in the face of such exercise was just plain annoying. Nabiki had kept in adequate shape over the years. She enjoyed playing tennis and was consistent with her yoga workouts, but it had been quite a while since she had done anything as rigorous as their training session. The fact that she hadn't come close to landing even a single hit on her younger sister and that Akane appeared as if she hadn't even broken a sweat through the course of their sparring made matters even worse.

"_It's my own fault," _Nabiki lamented to herself. _"She's right. I shouldn't have quit. I have no right to get upset now that my little sister is better at this than me. I mean what did I expect? I could hardly ever touch her before when we had been receiving the same training. Did I honestly think that after years of no practice I could come in and stand a chance against her what with her years of practice, specialized training and experience in the face of real life fighting challenges? She's come a long ways… I wonder if she even realizes how much better she is now. And me? I'm just a coward…" _she frowned. _"I quit because I was afraid of her surpassing me. I was afraid of losing to her so I gave it up."_

"Aaah," Akane let out a happy sigh as she finished a cool down kata, and Nabiki drew her attention back to her sister as she spoke. "Nothing like a nice work out to take your mind of things, don't you think Nabiki?"

"Sure, Akane. Whatever you say," she grumbled her response.

"But really Nabiki, I'm impressed! You did very well! You really do have a talent for this. Why did you quit all those years ago anyway?"

"You honestly don't know the answer to that?" Nabiki asked in a low voice.

"Huh? What did you say Nabiki?"

"Heh. You really are clueless aren't you," she said in an even tone, with her back to her younger sister.

"Hmm? What do you mean Nabiki?" Akane blinked, the picture of oblivious naivety.

"Nothing Akane. Nothing at all."

Akane swallowed nervously, unable to ignore the awkward tension filling the room. "So uh, Nabiki, about this training, why now? Why are you suddenly interested in practicing again?"

"You promised not to ask questions, remember?"

Akane flinched at the flat tone. For a moment she had forgotten. "I-I know. But still… It seems strange. I mean, why now?"

Nabiki reflected for a moment, wondering the same thing herself. She had one specific reason in mind that she wasn't about to voice, but now, after their training session she realized there was something else there too. "I missed this," she said frankly.

Akane stared at her in surprise and opened her mouth to raise another question but was cut short by the sound of cooing and flapping wings as a white speckled pigeon flew in through the open doors. "Huh? What the…?" Akane asked in bewilderment. Nabiki merely turned towards the bird and held out her arm which the creature landed on gracefully.

"Hey Carrie," she said coolly.

"Carrie?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, short for Carrie R. Pigeon. Cute name, don't you think?" she smiled as she removed a band from the pigeon's leg that contained a small, rolled up note. She unfolded all the creases, flattening out the paper and then with a smile turned to the pigeon again. "Thank you for relaying the message Carrie. This is most certainly excellent news!" she grinned, tapping the bird on its beak. "You can go now!" She swung her arm upwards, and the bird simultaneously took off to where it had come from.

"Y-You have a carrier pigeon?" Akane asked slightly stunned.

"Don't be silly! Why would I have a pet like that? Carrie belongs to... an associate of mine."

"I see… So then what was she doing here?"

"Just relaying a message," Nabiki said with a secretive grin. "Anyway, I'm going to go get cleaned up. It looks like I'll be going out to run some errands for a bit. Please tell Kasumi I won't be back for dinner. Ciao!" she called with a short wave as she disappeared out the door before Akane had a chance to respond.

"Wh- Wait! Nabiki!" Akane called, chasing after her sister, down the catwalk and into the house. "You said when we were done practicing I could talk to you about…" She suddenly skidded to a halt as she rounded the corner and found herself face to face with Ranma whose look of shock mirrored her own at the encounter. He shrank back for a moment, worried she might somehow know that he had been heading towards the dojo with the intention of eavesdropping on her conversation with Nabiki. However, upon noticing Akane's wide eyes and flushed cheeks he smirked, realizing whatever she was trying to hide must have been pretty important, and he therefore had the upper hand.

"Talk to her about what?" Ranma asked casually taking a step closer with a mischievous grin as Akane simultaneously took a step backwards.

"I, uh… Um…" Akane continued to back away and swallowed hard, her eyes darting around for an escape as her back brushed against the solid wall.

_"Oh-ho, I was right! This must be good!" _Ranma thought elated. "Come on Akane, you can't fool me. You and Nabiki are up to something, aren't you? Have been for sometime now."

Akane was refusing to meet his eyes now, backed into a corner both literally and figuratively. "No!" she insisted weakly.

"You are!" he stated then realization appeared to strike him and his grin widened. "Is that why you've been acting mad lately? Trying to keep me from getting too close and discovering your little secret?" He asked as he lifted an arm, placing his hand against the wall over her left shoulder as he leaned in closer to her, studying her face.

Akane's eyes snapped to his own then in terror at being found out, and she felt her knees weaken and her throat go dry as she stared up at him with wide eyes, frozen in place like a deer caught in headlights, with her back and palms pressed hard against the wall. It wasn't like her to be so weak, she knew, but certain agreements left her options limited. She could have grabbed one of her trusty mallets of varying shapes and sizes to pound him out of the way, but in such tight settings she was sure she would be unable to hit him without causing any property damage. She got the impression that her arrangement with Nabiki was shaky at best, and she wasn't about to push her luck with one of the few conditioned agreements her sister had given. So instead of hitting him through the roof or the wall, shouting that whatever she was up to was none of her business, she slowly slunk to the right only to collide with the small end table placed at the end of the hall. This caused Ranma to laugh darkly.

"Nowhere to turn Akane, I got you now, and I'm not letting you go anywhere until you tell me what it is I want to know," he said in a low voice that sent shivers down her spine, his warm breath tickling her nose and lips as he spoke. She wondered briefly if he had any idea what he was saying and how his words sounded. Noting how calm and smug he appeared she doubted he did. However, she was suddenly very aware of him, his intense stare, focused entirely on her, his confident smirk full of his simple boyish charm, and the new understated fresh and spicy scent of the aftershave he had started using only recently. He had clearly grown up a lot since the time they first met, in more ways than one.

And then there were his eyes… His beautiful clear eyes…

She wanted to smack herself upside the head. _"Ugh! I'm doing it again! When did I turn into this stupid swoony teenage girl! It's just Ranma!!! Stop acting like such an idiot, Akane!" _

_"Isn't this about the time someone would show up and interrupt us? Well, where is everyone now when I actually want them to interrupt!" _Seeing no one she looked back at him

"We-Well you see… I uh…" Her eyes darted around again as she vaguely began to wonder why no one was interrupting them. After all, it seemed whenever they started to have a nice moment together, someone would come along claiming to be a long lost fiancée, or they would issue a challenge, or start taking pictures or video to commemorate the special moment. However, when Akane actually wanted someone to show up there was no one to be found, which meant she had to think of something on her own. It was then that her eyes happened to fall on something useful that she had missed before. With a grin she reached out and grabbed the flower vase on the table to her right and swiftly upturned the contents on her fiancée's head.

_"Ha!" _She smirked to herself as she looked at the now female Ranma. _"He's not so intimidating in this form…"_ She watched as Ranma's shoulders slouched, not bothering to contain his annoyance as he glared at the now taller girl through red tinged bangs. _"I suppose I won't have any trouble giving HER an answer now!"_

"Oh you know how it is," Akane grinned as she plucked a daisy that had failed to fall to the ground and was instead dangling askew caught in the base of Ranma's red braid. "Girl talk!" she said as she tucked the flower behind Ranma's ear. "Seeing as you're a GIRL now, I can tell you about it if you want," she began in a giddy, carefree tone. "We can go paint our nails and do each other's makeup as we talk aaalll about how…" her face darkened into a scowl before she continued. "You are an annoying, nosy busybody jerk!" she shouted, roughly pushing past him as she stormed down the hall in a huff.

"AUGH! Un-cute, un-cute, un-cute!" Ranma shouted his mantra after her as she disappeared around the corner. "What is with her anyway?"

Time: 18:10

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 8:15

The next morning, Akane and Ranma walked to school in an awkward silence. Ranma for his part was frustrated. He still couldn't figure Akane out. She had spent most of yesterday acting mad at him, but then when he'd cornered her in the hallway she'd acted flustered again for some strange reason. But that had only lasted a moment before her temper had flared up again in a seemingly forced display of annoyance. The rest of the evening she had spent glancing at the clock anxiously paying no attention to him at all, save for the angry glares she kept shooting at him whenever she caught him staring at her curiously. The rest of the time she seemed preoccupied and failed to notice him at all, which was particularly maddening since he seemed incapable of thinking of anything but her. Then Nabiki had returned home very late, and Akane had immediately jumped to her feet and ran after her and up to her room. Ranma had decided not to follow, too afraid of what Akane's reaction would be after she had already berated him once that day for being too nosy.

Instead he had stayed up late, once again, pondering what his enigma of a fiancée was thinking and more importantly why she hadn't ever answered him. _"I can't believe this. Here I finally asked her out, and what does she say? Nothing! She says nothing! Not a yes or a no, she just ditches me and then acts like it never happened!"_ It created quite a unique conundrum for him. If she had said yes he would have acted cool and aloof, keeping his emotions in check, not wanting to seem too eager. If she had said no, he could have played it off like no big deal, saying it was just a bet, not a date or anything. But not saying anything? How was he supposed to respond to that? _"I could ask her again, but wouldn't that look too desperate? I should probably not say anything then, but what if she's mad because I lost interest or something? What if she's waiting to see what I do? Agh! This is so frustrating!!!" _he continued to battle with his thoughts inwardly, failing to notice as Akane glanced over at him.

"_Ugh, what am I supposed to do? I sure wish Nabiki hadn't brushed me off last night when she got home. I could really use some advice right about now. Should I say yes to dinner? I want to, but how am I supposed to bring it up now? We haven't said anything all morning. It would look weird if I brought it up now out of nowhere. I should probably just act as if it never happened. Besides, getting too close to him right now is proving very dangerous. I need to keep him at a distance, at least for now…"_ She frowned. To be honest it wasn't what she wanted at all. If it hadn't been for the stupid arrangement she had made with Nabiki she would have said yes and that would have been that. Their first date. It sounded so wonderful. But unfortunately a date would have gotten in the way of their plans.

"_But how to keep him away? Acting angry has been an effective diversion tactic so far, but there's one easy counter to it. The moment he gets close to me again I fall to pieces, and I can't just keep throwing cold water on him every time I'm feeling uncomfortable. Eventually he'd get suspicious. If I keep it up it will only be a matter of time before he figures out what I'm doing and why. Then there's no way I'll be able to hide this anymore!" _She chewed her lip unconsciously_. "What to do, what to do…"_

Meanwhile Ranma had come to a sort of resolution of his own. _"Whatever's up with her, I don't know, but I'm done worrying about it. She seems determined to pick fights with me, that much is clear, so until she's over whatever girly problem she's dealing with I'll just stay out of her way. After all, I know she doesn't have any real reason to be mad at me. I haven't done anything wrong this time, so I'm not going to bother apologizing to her. I'll just wait for this to all boil over. In the meantime I won't talk to her or approach her or nothing! That way there's no way she can pick a fight with me! Ha! It's the perfect plan!" _

The ring of a bicycle bell froze him in his thoughts as he realized the one big hole in his newly formed full proof plan. He didn't have to say or do anything to get in trouble. Simply being in the same general vicinity as one of his other fiancées was more than enough to get Akane mad at him.

"Nihao Ranma!" Shampoo called cheerfully, her bike clattering to the ground as she launched herself at him and quickly wrapped her arms around his waist as she snuggled her head against his chest. Ranma stuttered and squirmed to get away from her glancing at Akane for no reason other than to prepare himself for the inevitable strike or insult she was certain to hit him with. What he saw though surprised him. As usual she looked angry but for once she wasn't doing anything about it. Instead she stood still clenching and unclenching her fists, her knuckles whitening around the handle of her book bag as she stared at the pair with a frustrated expression. Her eyes rose slightly as she noticed he was looking towards her and then met his own. She appeared to be struggling with some internal decision for a moment, and then her eyes drifted to Shampoo.

"Hi Shampoo," she said in a calm, pleasant, almost friendly tone. "How are you today?"

To say Shampoo was thrown off guard by Akane's behavior would have been an understatement. She looked at Akane, blinked several times then looked at Ranma who appeared equally astonished. He eventually glanced down at Shampoo's questioning look and merely shrugged indicating he was just as confused. Shampoo then looked back at Akane. "Shampoo fine. Just finish with morning deliveries," She stated in an even voice, as if testing the waters. "Come see if Ranma want take Shampoo on date?" The question in her voice lacked its usual excitement and over the top 'bounciness' and was clearly directed to Akane rather than Ranma, as if asking the other girl for permission.

"Oh, well, Ranma and I were actually heading to school right now," Akane prompted Ranma who had successfully managed to disentangle himself from Shampoo having taken advantage of her surprise that caused her to loosen her death grip around his waist.

"Yah, school, uh huh that's right!" Ranma called. "So, sorry but I uh, can't. Don't wanna be late!" he chimed in with a thankful smile to Akane.

Akane smirked. "He's free after school though!" She didn't exactly like the thought of them dating, but on the bright side it would get her some time away from him to clear her head.

"Yah, I'm… WHAT!?!?" Ranma shrieked at Akane, then lowered his voice and hissed at her under his breath. "Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

Shampoo watched the exchange, her confusion failing to disappear, and a feeling of disappointment overtaking her. Part of the fun in ambushing Ranma was the fact that it never failed to anger Akane, which usually led to a huge argument between the couple. Shampoo's best strategy for winning Ranma over had always been to drive a wedge between him and his other fiancée by turning them against each other. However, Akane was not acting like she normally did. She wasn't acting mad. Instead she had actually calmly recommended Shampoo try and ask Ranma out later when he was actually available.

It wasn't normal. Which could only mean one thing. Akane was up to something, and that could not be good. She knew she had to respond correctly or else she would fall right into some trap laid by the Japanese girl living with her future husband. Attempting to compose herself, Shampoo glanced back to Ranma and forced her brightest smile on her face leaping towards him for a quick hug. "Okay Ranma! Shampoo see after school then!" As quickly as she had latched onto him, she was gone again, retrieving her bike and taking off back towards her restaurant waving a chipper goodbye.

As she pedaled quickly through the streets she chewed on her lower lip, a feeling of defeat and worry overtaking her. Something was definitely wrong. Reaching the Cat Café, she abandoned her bike and rushed inside. "Great Grandmother! Big trouble! Something wrong with Akane! And no is good for Shampoo!"

* * *

Ranma and Akane watched as Shampoo rode off in the opposite direction. Ranma simply scratched his head in confusion. It all had been just a little too… Easy. He was about to say as much to Akane, but as he turned to her he realized she had already left his side, walking swiftly in the direction of their school.

"H-Hey! Akane! Wait up!" he called quickly running to close the gap between them.

"If you don't hurry we're going to be late Ranma," she said without looking back.

"I know but… Can't you hold on just a second! I want to know what's going on here!?"

"What do you mean Ranma?" she responded coolly.

"What was that all about? You telling Shampoo I'm free after school for a date? That is _so_ not like you."

Akane shrugged. "What should I have told her? I didn't lie, did I? You're free, aren't you?"

"Well, yah, I mean no, or rather, well, technically yes, but…"

"So then what's the problem?"

"What's the problem? What's the problem? Geez Akane, what's wrong with you? Are you sick or something?" He stopped her and put a hand on her forehead intent on finding the underlying cause for her strange behavior.

Ranma failed to notice the blush that suddenly tinged her cheeks and the fact she avoided meeting his gaze as she carefully pushed his hand aside before continuing on her way. "There's nothing wrong with me Ranma. I'm fine."

"Then why are you acting so weird? First you keep getting mad at me over every little thing, then you're all flustered and go sneaking around with Nabiki being all secretive about something, and now you're not beating me up after Shampoo glomped onto me and are even suggesting I date her?"

"I didn't suggest you date her!" Akane growled. "But you're free to do whatever you want, Ranma! I don't care who you spend your afternoon with," she yelled, finishing with a dramatic 'hmph.'

"So you are mad," Ranma responded, sounding more relieved than worried.

"No," Akane breathed through clenched teeth. "I just…" she sighed and stopped walking, grabbing Ranma by his pigtail, successfully halting his forward motion as well. "Ranma," she began in a calmer voice. "You and Shampoo _are_ engaged by her laws."

"Yah, by her laws. It's got nothing to do with me."

"Be that as it may, you still haven't been successful in getting out of the engagement, which is why she's still hanging around all the time. You've given her some reason to think she has a chance."

"And _that's_ why you're mad," he said with a tone of finality and pride at having solved the mystery of her behavior.

"NO!" she shouted. "I AM NOT MAD!"

"Yeagh!" Ranma shrunk away from her making warding gestures. "Yeah, clearly you're not mad."

"Oh just forget it Ranma. Here I am trying to be nice and…"

"Nice? You're being nice? If this is nice, I can't imagine how un-cute mean would be."

Akane took a deep breath, letting her initial retort to his comment die on her tongue and resolved to try again to explain her actions. "Ranma," she growled his name, took a deep breath to calm herself then continued. "What I mean to say is… If you want to go out on a date with Shampoo, then you should."

"Ha ha, yah, good one Akane. And then what? You'll go and murder me in my sleep or something?"

"No," she said calmly. "I won't get in your way," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. That being said she started walking again and he quickly started after her.

"Come on Akane, don't be stupid. You don't actually mean that."

"And what makes you think that you have any idea what I do and do not mean? We're not married Ranma, you're free to date whoever you want!"

"Oh so you're mad about the we… The uh… Well, you know, the wedding?" he stuttered lamely.

She fought the urge to freeze up at the mere mention of the event that they had successfully avoided talking about until then. But instead of reacting she simply shrugged. "I'm not mad."

Ranma stared at her slightly confused, and at the same time slightly hurt by the fact that she had apparently stopped caring about what he did. Then a thought struck him. _"Oh crud! I must've done something wrong after all. Either that or Nabiki told her I did something. She's not just mad, she's actually… She's actually given up on me! That's why she doesn't care about me dating Shampoo! Oh man this is not good. Definitely not good…"_

He opened his mouth to call after her, but no words made their way through his mouth, and before he could think of anything to say, they were at the school gates, where they were immediately met by Kuno who lunged at Akane, yammering on about some festival which Ranma really didn't bother listening to since it was Kuno that was talking, and he was far more concerned with Akane's behavior anyway. Kuno finished his speech and lunged forward to embrace Akane. As always they reacted as one, Akane burying her fist in Kuno's face as Ranma simultaneously landed on the top of his head, and Ranma found comfort in the fact that this synergy between them still remained. Yet instead of yelling at Ranma for interfering in her fight like usual, she merely spun on her heal and walked towards the school building, without ever meeting his eyes.

Ranma sighed, watching her walk away from him, and for a moment he was terrified. Something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, he didn't know how to find out, and most importantly he didn't know how to fix it. Somehow he knew that this time something was different. This wasn't a problem that would just go away with time. He had to do something, and fast! The bells began to ring, and Ranma too made his way towards the door, his feet dragging ever so slightly.

Time: 8:25

* * *

Time: 12:05

Location: Nurse's Office, Furinkan High, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 002: Tendo Nabiki

Target: Classified

Objective: Classified

"They really hit you hard this time didn't they? Well I wouldn't take it too personally Kuno-chan. They've got a lot on their minds at the moment, and I don't think it's you Akane's really mad at. Although you do kind of bring it on yourself attacking them like that every morning. And bringing a real sword to their wedding?" Nabiki clucked her tongue. "Whatever were you thinking Kuno-chan?" Her admonishing tone fell as she frowned over his silent unconscious form and with a sigh she abandoned her mask of ambiguity.

All those times he was rendered unconscious by Ranma and Akane, Nabiki was the one to drag him to the nurse's office. She very rarely waited with him, but for some reason, that day was different. She felt like she wanted to talk to someone, even if that someone was Kuno and he was currently unconscious. Why she spent so much time caring for the idiot was beyond her. They were classmates, and he was the wealthy buffoon that fell for all her schemes when no one else would. He was reliable in that sense at the very least. But there was more to it than that. She wasn't just thinking of her pockets when she looked out for him. It was all because of what they had meant to each other in the past.

She thought back to their days as children. They had grown up together. After all, their mothers had been good friends from their own school days and the late Mrs. Kuno would always bring her children over to play whenever she visited. Nabiki laughed out loud at memories of Akane and Kodachi fighting over their toys. Now they were older and instead fought over boys. "Hey Kuno-chan? We all used to be friends, remember? Akane and Kodachi seem to have forgotten but I haven't. I wonder Kuno-chan," she spoke his naming adding the ending tense with an almost affectionate tone that was a strong contrast to her normal mocking voice.

"Do you remember as well?" she asked hopefully. "You and I used to get along so well. There was none of this bickering or you chasing after my sister," she muttered almost bitterly. "I remember for hours we would play at sparring, acting as if we knew what we were doing and taking it oh so seriously..." She trailed off looking at her fallen classmate decked out in his kendo outfit. "Well I guess you haven't really changed that much there now have you? Back then you were my friend, not Akane's. Remember they would always want to play with us but we would tell them they couldn't because they were too little and we as big kids had important older kid stuff to do?"

She chuckled before growing sad not bothering to ask herself or the silent presence in the room what had happened. In her heart she already knew the answer. Death had happened. And death changed everything. When her mom had died Kuno and his mother had been helpful and supportive stopping by to help around the house and to cook meals. Kuno had sat with her for hours while she cried offering a friendly shoulder and ear. But then his mother had grown ill as well and they had stopped visiting. They had to fend for themselves and Nabiki had felt abandoned and betrayed. She hadn't understood then, but she did now. They'd drifted apart, and when Kuno's mother died the following year Nabiki didn't even find out until months after the fact. She hadn't done anything for him. She hadn't offered the same support he had been so willing to lend to her. To be fair how could she? She had still been too grief stricken with her own loss to be of much support, and his father even then had been deranged, and allusive, keeping them locked up in that large unwelcoming home. She was afraid. She was too young to understand the importance of it all. She did now. If she had been there for him, for his sister, especially when his father too left them to study teaching principles overseas, maybe they wouldn't have ended up so... Troubled.

She knew that was the crucial point. When his father left he had felt alone and retreated to a world of chivalry and honor and the lonely samurai way where no one wept for the loss of family or friends. Where it was okay and even noble to be alone and tragic. Yet it didn't have to be that way. He could have relied on her. If only she'd known.

When they started at the same high school the previous year he was a completely different person. A half crazed pompous boy who acted as if he had never met her and certainly wanted nothing to do with her. It had disappointed her more than she cared to admit. But what else had she expected? What else did she deserve? If it wasn't for her schemes they wouldn't interact at all. If he remembered her at all he didn't let it show. He was a different person. So was she. They weren't Kuno-chan and Nabi-chan anymore. They never would be either. It was pointless to hold onto that past of simpler times. Gone was their childhood. If they were to be anything to each other now it would be in their new lives. Their past had nothing to do with it.

However, she still felt an obligation to repay him for what he had done for her in the past and to take care of him now since she hadn't before. Even if he didn't know she was doing it. It was a shame. If she was like everyone else and she looked after Kuno so regularly everyone would have assumed she had a crush on him and gossip about them would flood the halls. As it was though she wasn't like everyone else and even if she wasn't feared by her classmates no one would assume her reasoning for watching out for him had anything to do with her caring for him. They assumed as was expected that there was money to be gained from her attention to him. And Kuno didn't know. He never bothered to question why one minute he would be at the school gates waiting to attack Ranma Saotome or embrace Akane Tendo and the next he would wake up on a bed in the nurse's office, his wounds tended to carefully. She was usually gone by then.

"Maybe its better this way," she whispered. She knew how he saw her. Just the same as everyone else. Nabiki Tendo, the greedy penny pinching power hungry manipulative ice queen of Furinkan High that would sell out her own sister for a couple hundred yen. What reason could she have to take care of Kuno?

"What reason indeed? Do people really think me so inhuman? Is that why everyone avoids me except to place bets or pay for the latest information or pictures I have on hand?" No one asked her to sit with them at lunch or accompany them to the stores during the weekends. No one met her at the school gates every morning asking her for a date. As much as she hated to admit it even to herself she was lonely.

It was as she began to ponder those thoughts further that the door slid open and the nurse stepped inside. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I didn't know you were still in here Miss Tendo! Is Kuno okay?"

"Yes he's fine," Nabiki responded slightly startled.

"Well you should be getting back to class then. It's nearly lunch time already! No need to worry. I'll stay with him."

"_Worry huh?"_ she thought to herself. _"I wonder if there's something to that."_ She looked at Kuno as she rose. "Don't spend the whole day in here, Kuno-chan, after all, you and I have a lot of planning to do," she said with a secretive smile as she turned and made her way for the door.

"Do you need a pass?" the nurse asked her.

"No," Nabiki smirked. There were after all some benefits to being feared by the whole school, faculty included. She knew perfectly well her teacher wouldn't bother her with something as trivial as a hall pass. _"But sometimes,"_ she thought giving one last look at the boy that she had so much past with and so little future. _"Sometimes the price I pay for money seems just a little too high."_

Time: 12:15

* * *

Date: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Time: 12:05

Location: Classroom 1F, Furinkan High, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Objective: Literature

"Alright class," the teacher called as she walked around the room handing back papers to her students. "I've had a chance to read over what you've written so far for your final writing assignment. Some of the writings need a little work, but are on the right track," she said encouragingly as she paused in front of a pair of students and handed them their paper with a nod. "Some of your writings were excellent, and off to a great start," she smiled brightly as she handed off yet another assignment to another pair. Then her eyes fell on Ranma and Akane and she walked towards them. "And some of your writings were… Very… Interesting," she said awkwardly as she handed the paper to Akane. A few students nearby began to laugh until the teacher leveled them with a look of warning and the snickers ceased. She then dropped the volume of her voice as she spoke directly to the red faced couple. "It's not that it's bad, it's actually very intriguing. But I'd like to see you turn it around. It sounds as if the characters you're writing about don't really want to break up and are struggling with how they really feel about their relationship. It's clear from this paper that you two understand how to deliver witty insults, but I need you to dig deeper. Really get into the true feelings of these two and explore those emotions. Alright?" she smiled brightly.

Akane and Ranma nodded solemnly already knowing that nothing good could come out of what she was asking. "Good then!" she beamed as she continued on her way. "Oh, I almost forgot," she turned back suddenly. "Ranma, please lose the King Kong reference? It really doesn't seem to fit with this particular assignment." Both Akane and Ranma turned an even brighter shade of red as the class erupted into a fit of laughter. As the teacher attempted to regain order over the classroom they both sunk into their seats, wishing to disappear entirely.

"This is all your fault," Akane hissed at Ranma.

"Me? Why me? It's your assignment too!"

"Yeah but I always do really well on all of my literature assignments. You on the other hand… I mean look at all the errors you made with your Kanji!" she said handing the paper over to him and pointing out the many red circled characters with incorrect strokes.

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest. "Hmph. Well if you're so good at writing, how come you didn't notice those errors, huh?"

"I didn't catch them because I've gotten so used to your horrible grasp of Kanji that I don't even notice your mistakes anymore."

"Well why can't the teacher get used to my writing then?"

"Cause its wrong you dolt! Honestly! I don't know how your dad got you into this school without you having to take the entrance exam but it's a good thing he did because I don't know how you'd ever pass it!"

Ranma's eyes flashed but he didn't say anything straightening up as feelings of rage grew within him. Akane, unaware simply continued, not knowing that she had crossed a line. She was feeling humiliated and wanted to do away with those feelings by placing the blame on someone else. Plus, she had her own lingering feelings of anger that she had held back after their run in with Shampoo, and it had been eating away at her relentlessly all morning. Her inability to have an honest discussion with him about her feelings and the frustration that came with losing out on her opportunity to agree to going to dinner with him were not helping matters. The fact that she had no idea what to do or how to act and that Nabiki had been avoiding her troubled her as well, and all of those things had accumulated, putting her in a very bad mood with no available outlets to release her anger. But now she had one, and without regard for his own feelings she was prepared to seize the opportunity.

"How can you possibly be so stupid?" she growled. "I guess it's because of your Martial Arts training that you never really took any time for anything else. That's all that matters to you, isn't it? You don't care about school, or anything else, and you obviously don't care about m…"

He words were cut off as his chair clattered to the ground as he stood up abruptly, no longer caring about who was looking as he glared down at her. "What do you expect Akane? It's all that I have!" he yelled. Something within him had snapped. He was tired of fighting with her, and was tired of her careless insults. This time she had gone too far. "It's all I know," he began ranting. "I spent my whole childhood, and the first part of my adolescence on the road with my stupid jerk of a father training. I didn't get to see my mother, didn't get to make friends, at least not for very long, and I sure as heck didn't have time for no girlfriends. My father ain't that good at anything other than Martial Arts and we moved around so much that I never really had any consistency in school anyway, so yeah, okay maybe I'm not much good at these kinds of things. Never really mattered before. All I needed was Martial Arts anyway. That was what we lived for and were devoted too. This other stuff never mattered, and honestly, without Martial Arts what good am I?" He bit his tongue ending his tirade, realizing it hadn't ended where he had expected, and he was now feeling rather dark and depressed. More solemnly he continued. "It's all I've ever known, Akane. With the kind of life I've lived… How could I be any good at these kinds of things? Maybe you're right. Maybe I am stupid. I don't know much of anything, and I'm clearly of no use to you or anyone else."

The silence that had befallen the room hardly mattered. All he could see was Akane as she stared up at him, her eyes wide and her mouth stunned into silence as her face contorted as if in pain. "_She must think I'm pathetic. Probably thinks I'm such a loser. Why did I say all of that? I am an idiot, what was I thinking…"_

His thoughts were interrupted as Akane immediately and unceremoniously burst into a fit of tears. Ranma shrunk away from her in shock, all his previous thoughts completely gone, everything that had been in his head seeming insignificant in comparison to the importance of the fact that she was crying and he had absolutely no idea why or how to stop her. "Um… Akane… I, er… Uh, it's nothing to cry about. I…" He tentatively reached a hand out towards her, only then realizing he had no idea what he was intending to do with it. However, the slight movement caught the attention of the strange creature before him and she lunged to her feet and threw her arms around his neck knocking him slightly off balance.

"I'm so sorry!" she blubbered in between a fit of sobs. "I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry!"

"Uh, it's… Okay?" he stated uncertainly, still utterly confused by her actions, and now thoroughly embarrassed yet again as he noted the curious looks of the students around them. He shifted slightly trying to get comfortable with her added weight near toppling him over and was discovering that despite the suddenness and awkwardness of the moment he was almost enjoying having her so close to him, with her head buried in his shoulder, her tears soaking his shirt and her hands clinging desperately to his neck. If it wasn't for the fact that she was crying like there was no tomorrow it would have most likely have been quite enjoyable. Oh what was he kidding? It was enjoyable even under the incredibly odd circumstances. As much as he hated to see her cry, there was something so adorable about it at the same time, especially with her leaning on him to comfort her. It made him feel useful. Like he was needed, and more specifically, needed by her. The thought caused him to break out into a goofy grin, growing oblivious to the whispers of their classmates.

"I didn't mean it," Akane cried suddenly. "You're not useless! And you're not stupid! I think you're very smart, and I…" He froze as her small hands trailed down the front of his chest to rest just above his heart as she pushed against him ever so slightly lifting her head so their faces were mere inches apart. "Oh Ranma," she whimpered. "Please forgive me, I really didn't mean it. I don't think you're useless, or stupid, really! I think you're wonderful and I…"

She stopped quite abruptly, suddenly very aware of what she was doing, and saying, and the fact that he looked completely bewildered. And then she looked past him noticing the equally astonished looks of her classmates and the annoyed, baffled look of their teacher. She had completely forgotten where they were. She swallowed roughly before abruptly jumping away from him. Her face was very hot and she was sure it had seriously reddened. "Um, sorry," she finished lamely before turning and running out of the room as fast as her legs could take her. "Excuse me!" she shouted as she disappeared, just as the bells began to ring signaling the end of the class period and the beginning of lunch.

It took Ranma a whole 30 seconds for his thoughts to break through his shell shocked brain. When they did there was only one thing to be said. "Would somebody PLEASE tell me what is wrong with that girl?"

Time: 12:25

Phase 003 Mission Status: Epic Fail

Commencing Phase 004.01

…End Transmission…

* * *

Author Notes: Yeesh! That was long! I actually thought it would be a short chapter, but instead it ended up being the longest! Go figure! Oh well. Thank you everyone for reading! I really appreciate it. Please take some time to review now and let me know your thoughts. Also, I have a poll in my profile pertaining to this story, so check it out and vote if you want some say in the direction of this story! And hey, while you're there, check out some of my other stories! I have quite a few Oneshots there, as well as a completed series called Missing You. There are some unfinished works there as well. Okay, sorry, done plugging, moving on!

About this chapter, I was half tempted to delete it and the previous chapter and just jump ahead to the chapter where the original story really gets going. It's not that this 'tangent' with Akane's 'identity crisis' is bad; I'm actually really enjoying it and like where it's headed. However, it wasn't part of the original plotline I had prepared, and I'm starting to feel like it's an entirely different story all together. That being said I might as well make this Book 1 of Mission Impossible and the second part Book 2. Anyway, my point is, I am having a little trouble fitting this concept in. It's kind of like taking two different connect the dot puzzles and attempting to connect everything so that it forms one big picture. I feel like this segment is mostly just 'fluff' and it's kind of annoying me. But I'll see it through regardless. I do like how the idea is developing, it's just tough piecing it all together, as I mentioned before. Please review and let me know your thoughts, it helps so much! I'll continue this story and finish it regardless, but reviews provide me with a lot of inspiration. Thank you to everyone that already has commented, I appreciate it so much!

A few notes, Tale of Genji is a very famous Japanese novel written in the eleventh century by Murasaki Shikibu. I have the book and have tried to read it, but it's over a 1000 pages long, so needless to say I never actually finished it. I did study a lot about it once upon a time though and do have a grasp of the concept, though I don't claim to be an expert on such a famous piece of historical literature. To sum up briefly, it's about a Heian prince and his 'exploits' with numerous women. Hence Akane's comment about Genji being a 'womanizing dog.' The story includes a lot of prose love letters that go back and forth between couples and are similar to what Ranma and Akane were writing, although their attempts weren't anywhere close to being as good as any prose in the actual book. Anyway, I find it very realistic that Ranma and Akane would be required to read the book in a literature class, and the assignment the teacher gave seems a reasonable class exercise. I don't pretend however that the pieces of prose that Ranma and Akane wrote back and forth are any good. In fact I find their exchanges quite bad and laughable, which was kind of the point. Could I do it better if I wanted to? I guess we'll never know! Probably not, though. Prose really isn't my thing.

As far as Ranma's Kanji goes, I remember a few instances in the manga where he would write something with the wrong strokes for a Kanji character and it would end up making no sense or meaning something else completely. I doubt Ranma really cares that much about schooling, but even if he did I think he would have a hard time being good at it considering he really didn't have a very consistent, steady education growing up, and studies in Japan are a lot more rigorous and hard to keep up with than they are in the States. As far as entrance exams go, I always found it curious Ranma was just able to start his first year of high school without ever taking an entrance exam or anything. Doubt he would have had time at a different school either considering they had just returned from China at the beginning of the manga. I suppose its possible Furinkan doesn't have an entrance exam (the anime episode where Ryoga studies for it never actually occurred in the manga), but I find it more likely Genma (or Nabiki) found a loophole to get Ranma in without taking it. Just a theory though, but it is something I've always wondered about. Regardless of whether or not Ranma cares about school, I doubt he'd appreciate Akane calling him stupid and useless, and I'm sure she would feel bad if she really said something like that. Ranma is normally very confident and appears to have a huge ego, but considering his upbringing, I find it hard to believe he doesn't have some insecurities about himself that he very rarely gets pushed enough to show or admit to. Therefore, I don't really consider his and Akane's exchange towards the end to be over the top on this subject. And like I said last chapter, this arc for the story basically revolves around Akane acting weird, so, yeah, she's supposed to be out of character! :-p

I will explore the Tale of Genji assignment and the King Kong verses Godzilla thing in the next few chapters too. Don't know where the later came from, but I did find it amusing and it does serve as a helpful plot point later on! I have two more chapters at least before Akane and Ranma start acting normal again. Everyone always writes where everything gets better once Ranma and Akane start being honest about their feelings for each other. I decided it would be fun to explore a different possibility. I mean after all they are both hopelessly bad at things like flirting and complimenting people, and I think if Ranma was really trying to say something nice his foot in mouth syndrome would end up making things worse. Plus, he's really bad at plots that don't involve fighting, but of course doesn't realize this. I had fun trying to figure out how he could screw up trying to tell Akane he liked her, and how Akane's attempts to avoid him so he doesn't' figure out she likes him would get in the way of his already doomed plots. Amusing chaos! J But don't worry, they'll figure it out eventually…

After this arc we'll start doing the matchmaking chapters. That should be about 4 to 5 chapters plus the conclusion chapter. I expect they'll go quicker writing wise since they were part of the original plot I had completed, and current chapters are still just developing. I'm hoping to have this wrapped up by March 30th of this year since that's when the story ends in 'real time.' One thing to keep in mind though is that this is primarily a story about Akane and Ranma, so even when Akane's trying to hook up other people, it's going to end up impacting her relationship with Ranma more than anything else. I am going to write about the other characters, and I do like some of the ways I get them hooked up, but don't expect EVERYTHING to be resolved at the end of the story. After all, this is Ranma ½, and it seems in this universe if one thing gets fixed a new problem pops up in its place. I think that's why I find it so entertaining!

Alright, enough rambling. Please, please, please review! If you do or if you have any questions I promise I will address any questions or comments at the end of my next chapter. I'll also address the comments I've already received. Thank you so much everyone for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!

- C -


	4. MI004 Evasive Maneuvers

Chapter 4: Evasive Maneuvers

* * *

…Begin Transmission…

File: MI004

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 9:00

Location: Nekohanten, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 005: Xian Pu

Target: Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Understanding Akane

The aged Amazon leaned back in her chair and took a long puff on her pipe watching the smoke wafting towards the ceiling in long, opaque tendrils as she let out a long drawn out sigh. "Hmmm... This is most certainly troublesome. Sounds like Akane is plotting something after all."

"You sure Great Grandmother? Akane no scheme before."

"Yes, it is true she has never really made any plays for the future son-in-law's affections before, but clearly something changed recently. After all, the Tendo girl did seem to be a willing participant in the wedding they had planned the other day." She glanced at Shampoo thoughtfully and watched as the girl winced and began to stare intently at her well manicured nails. Cologne was wise and had already suspected that something had happened in China. Shampoo's nervous behavior and refusal to discuss the events only confirmed her suspicions. Whatever happened had to have been important, and it was clear that it had affected Akane's opinion of Ranma. After all, Akane now appeared to be an active participant in the fight to marry Ranma, rather than a passive candidate and a reluctant defender of her claim that she only regarded as legitimate when pushed. Sure, Akane would get in the way of Shampoo and Cologne's schemes to win Ranma, but she had never initiated any schemes of her own. But now it appeared that the girl was actually taking an offensive role in the battle, and that could mean any number of things. They had no way of predicting what kind of approach the girl would take.

"So, the Tendo girl wants you to date Ranma now? What could that mean? I will have to look into this further, but I believe one thing is clear. This is surely a trap Shampoo. You must not fall into it. No matter what you do, do not go on a date with son-in-law today. I do not know what the girl is planning, but I fear there will be severe consequences for anyone that does get too close to Ranma today."

Shampoo pouted for a moment. "Very well. Shampoo promise no date Ranma today. No want face whatever stupid violent girl ploy." Then suddenly she broke into a wicked grin. "Hmmm. If Shampoo no can date then maybe... Aiya! Shampoo know just what do!"

Commencing Side Mission: SMI001 - Foiling Akane

Time: 9:10

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 12:25

Location: Classroom 1F, Furinkan High, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Still Trying to Understand Women

"Would somebody PLEASE tell me what is wrong with that girl?" Ranma shouted to no one in particular. No one in particular answered, but he quickly realized that voicing his frustrations had not been such a good idea as he became aware of the snickers and funny glances his classmates were casting his way. However, he had more pressing matters to attend to than public humiliation. He'd been humiliated in front of his classmates plenty of times before, and he knew that his current embarrassing situation wasn't likely to be the last one he found himself in.

Intent on getting to the bottom of Akane's behavior once and for all, he was about to rush out the door after her but was intercepted by Ukyo who did not look too happy.

"RANCHAN!" she shouted. "What in the world was that about?"

"You think I have any clue?" Ranma returned. "Believe me Ucchan, I wish I knew! You think I like her hanging all over me like that?" Admittedly he kind of did, but protesting that fact was safer and easier as he had more experience with denying the situations he found himself in than he had embracing them.

"Well you sure didn't seem too eager to get her off you! And what is this I hear about you going on a date with that Chinese hussy?"

"What? Shampoo? I never said that I would… Ugh! For crying out loud. Where do you guys get your information from anyway? One misunderstanding and several hours later the whole world knows about it!"

"So it's not true then? You didn't promise to date her?"

"I didn't promise anything," he retorted. "It was all Akane's idea," he mumbled under his breath looking out the door in the direction he thought Akane had headed. That was just one more thing he had to get to the bottom of.

"What? Akane wanted you to date Shampoo? Why would she…"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Ranma answered, brushing past her. "But believe me, I have every intention of finding out."

A bewildered and slightly dejected Ukyo watched as he darted out of the room, a deep frown darkening her features. "To try and set Ranma up with Shampoo… Akane must be plotting something. And whatever it is, I'm going to get to the bottom of it!"

Commencing Side Mission: UMI001 - Unveiling Akane's Plan

Time: 12:30

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 12:25

Location: Furinkan High School, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target: Subject 002: Tendo Nabiki

Objective: Awaiting Further Instructions

Phase 04.001

Akane considered herself lucky that the lunch bells rang only moments after she had exited the room. Now she just had to find her sister, and fast! Her cheeks burned as she replayed the scene she had just caused in her classroom. _"So much for acting mad,"_ she lamented. _"I can't believe I said all of those things! How humiliating! And poor Ranma! First I attack him and say such horrible things, and then I turn into an emotional wreck and start crying all over him! What was I thinking? Oh I'm so embarrassed! I am such a dummy, dummy, dummy…"_ She continued on her internal reproach as she dashed through the halls, intent on finding the one person she knew that could offer her advice. _"I need help. If I can't find some kind of solution for my freakish behavior there's no telling what other disasters I'll cause before the end of the day!" _With those thoughts in mind she turned another corner and barely avoided colliding with the very person she had been searching for.

"Oh! Nabiki! I'm sorry, I was…"

"Being careless," Nabiki snapped.

Akane blinked slightly surprised by her tone. "I said I was sorry," she stated.

Nabiki sighed and waved her hand in a dismissing manner. "Forget it, it's nothing," she said. "Where were you off to in such a hurry anyway?"

"Well, I was trying to find you," Akane started. "Where were you coming from anyway? I thought your class was down the opposite hallway."

"I was in the nurse's office," she admitted, a statement which brought questions to Akane's mind, but before she could voice them Nabiki had started walking again, gesturing for Akane to follow as she entered an empty classroom so they could talk quietly.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Akane could tell that Nabiki was not happy. "What is with you today?"

Akane reeled back slightly, not used to the displeased look her sister was giving her. "W-What do you mean?"

"What did you do to Kuno?"

"What are you talking about? I just punched him. It's the same thing every morning!"

"You hit him a lot harder than usual! The idiot has been out cold all morning."

Akane did show a little concern and guilt at that. "Oh," she muttered. "I guess I didn't mean to hit him that hard. I was just... Upset," she sighed, immediately losing the little concern she felt for Kuno in the vastness of her own worries. "This doesn't seem to be going so well. Everything's so mixed up! At first I was trying to act mad when I actually wasn't because I didn't want Ranma to know what I had been thinking and planning, and then Shampoo showed up and I really was mad but I didn't want to hit him like usual or yell at him about it, and then… Well, this is just so frustrating! Ranma and I are getting along worse than usual, and I'm having trouble pretending to be mad at him when I'm actually not. And now he's probably completely forgotten about asking me for a date... Well, at least I thought he asked me out, I'm still not sure what he meant by it. He probably didn't mean it as a date. What do you think? Oh what difference does it make what he meant! He probably wants nothing to do with me now. After what I just said to him and did… Oh Nabiki, it was horrible! I don't know what to do or think about him right now. I have no idea what he's thinking. And the fact that I can't get mad about the other girls is just driving me nuts!"

"Hold on, now why can't you get mad about the other girls?"

"Because! You told me I shouldn't stand in his way!"

Nabiki sighed. She had been more than a little annoyed with her sister for reasons she could only partially understand, but looking at her pathetic, frantic expression she couldn't help feeling a little bit sorry for her. "You really have no talent for this do you little sister?"

"What do you mean?"

Decidedly Nabiki flipped her hair and resolved to give her younger sister a slight shove in the right direction. "So far from what I can tell, you were supposed to act normal, and since you were too nervous to do that you fell back on acting angry, thinking people would expect that of you. However, what you fail to recognize is that no one, not even Ranma expects you to be angry 100% of the time. _That _looks suspicious. After all, you actually do manage to get along with him and be nice to him a good 75% of the time these days."

"I do?"

"Yes! So stop overdoing it okay?"

"Well, then what am I supposed to do? I get flustered every time I see him!"

"That's easy! Just…"

The door slid open and a girl entered looking rather timid. "Um, excuse me, Tendo Nabiki-san? I got the information you requested? Regarding the festival?" The girl stuttered nervously, approaching every sentence as if it were a question.

"Yes of course, thank you! Well don't just stand there, come in! Akane, if you wouldn't mind, I need to deal with this now."

"But I…"

Nabiki smirked. She sympathized with her sister, she truly did, but her benevolence only went so far. After all, she still had a mind to torture her little sister a while longer. Pure and simple payback for the unintentional pain she had caused. Plus, it would be good training for Akane, and prepare her for what was to come. Not to mention, it was incredibly amusing.

"We'll talk later about this. In the meantime you'll be fine Akane. Just… Avoid him or something, I don't care. Now I have business that pays to take care of. Come back when you have something to discuss that benefits _me_," she said with a wave of her hand. Akane assumed the statement was more for the benefit of the other girl's ears than her own. She knew her sister had to keep up appearances after all, but it aggravated her nonetheless as she trudged out of the room. The door slid closed behind her and she let out a discontented sigh.

"Now what do I do? Okay, so I don't have to be mean to him. Just… Normal. Yeah… Riiiight. That would be a whole lot easier if I didn't get all nervous every time I got close to him. Oh well, after lunch is gym, so that will at least give me some time to get used to how to act and to prepare myself for…"

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt, for at that very moment Ranma walked around the corner and faced her from the opposite end of the hall. "Akane!" He shouted firmly as his eyes locked on her in a serious manner and he started walking purposefully towards her, weaving in and out of the other students milling through the hall.

"Oh crud," Akane mumbled. "Not now! What do I say?" Biting her lip nervously she gathered her courage and began trudging forwards slowly and reluctantly, like a prisoner walking to her execution. "I must be brave!" she thought dramatically, raising her head proudly and squaring her shoulders as she looked towards him. "I'll just tell him the truth! Yeah, just… Um…"

"_Hey Ranma," Akane said as they met in the middle of the hallway. "Sorry about acting so crazy, but you see Nabiki and I are in the midst of a top secret mission! I'd tell you all about it, but then I'd have to kill you. Don't worry though! Just leave everything to me and it will all work out in the end if you bear with me for a little while and be patient."_

"_Oh. Okay. No problem Akane! You're so smart, I trust you completely! I just know you'll figure everything out! See ya later!" With a smile and a wave he turned and walked back down the hallway._

"Hmmm," Akane reflected, emerging from her imagined confrontation. "That wouldn't be so bad. Yeah, I'll do it just like that then," she decided looking up. He was still about 40 feet away, and she could tell by the way the students around him quickly stepped aside to clear a path for him that he was not in a mild mannered mood. "Oh who am I kidding, that will never work! Maybe if I…"

"_Hey Ranma, sorry about acting so crazy, but you see I just figured out that I'm madly in love with you and…"_

"_Really? That's wonderful because I love you too and I think you are the cutest most adorable, smart, talented woman in the world. Not to mention an amazing cook! I don't know why I wasted all this time not telling you sooner. Let's ditch school and get married right now!"_

"_Okay!"_

"Gah!" Akane blushed furiously, emerging from a more pleasant, but even more unlikely imagined possibility. "Yeah right! Like that will ever happen!" She glanced at Ranma again. He was still about 25 feet away and getting closer, his pace unwavering as his eyes burned into her form.

"Gotta think of something… Fast…"

"_Hey Ranma, sorry about acting so crazy. I ate some pork buns earlier that Shampoo made, and ever since then I've been feeling kind of odd…"_

"_Oh well that explains why you're acting so funny! It all makes perfect sense now! Come on Akane; let's go get the antidote for whatever crazy Chinese herb she's given you this time."_

"_Really? Um, yeah okay…"_

"_Man, and to think I actually thought you were just being cute for a change…"_

"_RANMA!!!"_

Akane shook her head trying to clear it of her final imagined approach and frowned. "Well, that does seem to be the most practical solution for getting out of this." She sighed. "Figures the only explanation that's a lie would be the one that's the most believable." She looked up again and swallowed hard. He was just 15 feet away.

"Well, I have to think of something…"

12 feet.

"Preferably now…"

10 feet.

She stared up at him. His eyes were narrowed in a look she had been becoming uncomfortably familiar with over the past two days. She gulped back air. "He doesn't look very happy."

8 feet.

He clenched his fists and quickened his pace. Akane felt all the blood drain from her face as her heart began to beat wildly in her chest. "Now or never," she whispered under her breath, trying to gain courage.

6 feet.

"Akane!" Ranma said closing the distance between them.

5 feet.

"Ranma I…"

4… 3… 2…

"…" She was drawing a complete blank and began looking around wildly, anywhere but at the handsome young man standing before her. The young man that was determined to get an answer from her that she wasn't ready to give.

1 foot.

"_Aha! That's it! How did I not see it before?"_ Akane thought eagerly. She had finally discovered it. The perfect solution to her problem.

All the students in the hall were sure to give Ranma plenty of room as they passed by the frustrated martial artist gaping in open mouth disdain at the door to the women's restroom that still swung violently back and forth after Akane had turned and bolted through it at the last possible second.

He eventually came to his senses and stopped gaping long enough to let out a low growl, followed by an unrestrained shout. "Oh come on! Now she's avoiding me? For the LAST time would somebody PLEASE tell me what the heck is wrong with that girl!?!?!"

Time: 12:40

Phase 004:001 (Receiving new instructions) Mission Status: Complete

Phase 004:002: (Evasive Maneuvers) Mission Status: In Progress

Commencing Phase 004:003

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 13:15

Location: Field A, Furinkan High School, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Regrouping

Phase 004.003

Akane sat on the bleachers, paying very little attention to her fellow classmates as they each took their turn running the long jump. Nor did she listen to the idle ramblings of her closest friends, Yuka and Sayuri as they gossiped about their prospective boyfriends. No, she noticed none of it, for Akane Tendo's thoughts and attention was engaged elsewhere, much to her chagrin.

She was trying very hard not to stare at a particular boy across the field playing soccer against his fellow classmates. That's right, against. 16 to 1. And he was clearly winning. She was trying even harder not to think about the person she was staring at. But most of all she was trying her best to ignore the fact that she was totally crushing on the guy she was staring at and thinking about.

"_This is so ridiculous! I shouldn't be acting like this! It makes no sense. It's just Ranma! Ranma! The same Ranma that ate the last bowl of rice at breakfast this morning. The same Ranma that overslept yet again and almost made us late for school. The same Ranma that used up the last of my toothpaste, without even asking if he could borrow it because his stupid father used up his toothpaste for some crazy training exercise! Ugh, what idiots! Not to mention, this is the same Ranma that has three other girls clinging to him on a regular basis and…" _Her thoughts trailed off and drifted to an entirely different direction and scene. _"The same Ranma that I myself clung to so desperately before lunch when I begged him to forgive me for being so cruel…"_

The memory turned pleasant as she remembered what it was like, her body pressed against him, her arms resting around the exposed warmth on the back of his neck. The way his eyes pierced into her very soul when she'd pulled away and looked up at him for a moment that had seemed to last for a lifetime…

"_Ranma…"_

She inwardly growled and resisted the urge to slap herself in the forehead for daydreaming once again. _"What's wrong with me? He never had this affect on me before! Before he was just Ranma, the selfish, rude, inconsiderate, and indecisive jerk that I was forced to converse with and interact with on a daily and even hourly basis. We live together! We're engaged! We eat all our meals together and do practically every necessary activity from morning to night at the same time, in the same room, and most typically together! Crushing on him is not only embarrassing; it's downright impractical and unnecessary!" _

She fumed in frustration. She still had no idea how to act on her inconvenient feelings or how to explain her irrational actions. After the scene in the classroom she'd done her best to avoid him and had been successful for the most part. Her stomach growled, reminding her why she had been successful. She'd spent the entire lunch period in the girl's restroom, forsaking her bento completely, and as a result was very hungry. Plus, she'd been tardy to gym class, unable to steal up enough courage to step into the halls until the second bell had rung, signaling the start of class. She'd been relieved to find Ranma nowhere in sight at the time. His pride had worked to her advantage for once. She'd half expected him to change into a girl and storm into the room after her, or remain outside until she exited, regardless of the consequences or the embarrassment waiting might cause. But she knew him better than that. He wanted to know what was going on, but he wasn't about to risk his reputation and pride by pacing the halls in front of the women's restroom until she came out, like some devoted boyfriend, holding his girlfriend's purse for her at the mall as she tried on clothing in a changing room. She wanted to laugh at the mental image. She could never imagine Ranma doing something like that! It would have been too much, even with his stubborn determination. Instead, she knew it was far more likely that he had retreated back to their classroom to wait in agitated impatience. But of course she would never know for sure if he waited, because she had been too scared to look.

So she'd left the room very late, paying the price of being tardy, and had not glimpsed him again until the girls had stumbled out onto the sports field and she'd spied him across the lawn, thoroughly distracted by his game of soccer. That much was fortunate she had decided. It gave her time to think, without being pressured by a pair of piercing, stormy blue eyes seeking her out.

"_What am I supposed to do now?" _she wondered. It wasn't as if she had much experience with how to act around guys she liked. She'd spent most of her adolescence hating them. Even around Dr. Tofu, her first crush, she had been unsure of how to act, and mostly fell back on imitating the mild mannered Kasumi. But clearly she lacked the patience and manners to pull that act off successfully. Despite her best efforts, the tactic hadn't worked on the doctor, and she was certain it wouldn't work on Ranma. Tofu was attracted to Kasumi. Ranma was not. Imitating her older sister would therefore get her nowhere. Even if she could copy someone else's behaviors, it wouldn't solve her problems. After all, her situation with Ranma was unique.

If he had been any other guy at school she could have taken a cue on how to act from one of her friends. They all had subtle little ploys to get closer to the guys that they liked. But she didn't need to hang around his shoe locker after school hoping to leave at the same time so they could walk together. They went to and from school together practically every day! She didn't need to offer to tutor him or help him with his classes just so she could spend time with him. She had been helping him with his homework on and off for months as her father had insisted upon it. And she didn't need to send him some cutesy love letter asking him to be her boyfriend. They were already engaged! So how was she supposed to act around him and what was she supposed to do now that their relationship had changed from that of a bickering reluctant couple to a relationship containing genuine and hopefully mutual interest?

It was most certainly troublesome. Ever since she had admitted her feelings for Ranma to Nabiki she had found it was utterly impossible to act normally around him. Every time she came face to face with him she would get distracted and tongue tied and more often than not ended up looking like a complete fool in front of him. She had tried acting angry and that had been successful for a brief period of time, but it had since raised suspicions, and with Ranma already catching on and asking questions, it was a tactic she was sure she'd have to abandon. Acting angry was therefore out. But where did that leave her? She could try being nice to him. After all, Nabiki had pointed out that for the most part she was kind and patient with him, at least until he opened his big mouth and said something incredibly stupid. It might work... Might not. She was afraid being nice to him would mean being around him and that would mean operating with a fuzzy half-lucid brain that made her act stupid. Or she could just do her best to avoid him. After all, she needed to stay focused on other things that she had not been paying attention to. Namely, the matchmaking plan she had concocted with her older sister.

_"A few weeks, that's what Nabiki said. If I can just get to the end of the month, hopefully everyone will be engaged elsewhere and then I can focus on working things out with Ranma. Until then, I'll just have to try and avoid getting too close to him. Shouldn't be too hard! I'll just have to convince myself that I'm not in love with him. Like I did before. Things worked out then, I'm sure I can put myself back into that frame of mind for now. Let's see..."_

She looked across the field to where Ranma was darting past his fellow students as if they posed no more of a threat than a bunch of mannequins and scored yet another goal, much to the agitation of the other boys. _"No big deal," _she thought to herself. _"So he's good at sports. Lots of guys are good at sports. I'm good at most sports even, although I'm sure I couldn't hold my own against the entire class... Still, whatever! No big deal. I don't like him. I don't. He is not cute. He is not funny. He is not exciting to be around. I do not get butterflies in my stomach when he looks at me and I do not care whether or not he likes me. I am not in love with him, I am not in love with him, I am not... Sigh he's so cool..."_

"Akane? Are you okay? You look kind of funny?"

"Hmm?" Akane responded to her friend's question in a lazy tone that made it perfectly obvious that she had not been paying attention and was not likely to start anytime soon. She simply stared in the general direction of the boys' gym class.

"Akane, are you… drooling?"

"What! No, of course not! Why would I…" she wiped a hand across her lips and attempted to conceal her blush.

"What is going on with you anyway, Akane?"

"Yeah, is there something going on with you and Ranma?"

"No," she grumbled in a tone that her friends instantly recognized as disappointment. She had been going for appalled, but had failed. Giving up on successful pretenses she sighed.

Yuka and Sayuri exchanged stunned glances and then burst into huge grins, leaning forward in an attempt to get their fill of gossip for the day.

"Oh my gosh! You totally like him don't you?"

"I was going to marry him, wasn't I?" Akane stated simply.

The girls were shocked by her lack of hesitation in her admittance.

"What changed Akane?"

"A lot. In China, he saved my life. Again. And then he said that he loved me. Although he took it back right away. But you know, so what? It doesn't change anything! He still has two other fiancées and crazy Kodachi, not to mention Kuno who doesn't have a clue that the pigtailed girl is actually Ranma, so even if he were able to admit that he loved me he… Rather we couldn't do anything about it!"

The girls gave her sympathetic looks. "It will all work out, I'm sure!"

"Yeah, don't give up, Akane! You can do this! Don't let those other girls steal your man!"

Akane flushed at their encouragement. "Y-Yeah, okay…" she muttered. "I'll uh… Do my best. That doesn't change the fact that I still don't know how to act around him."

"Just be yourself!"

"Yeah, and be honest! Tell him how you really feel!"

"Uh huh! Be nice, show him that you care."

"But you don't want to seem too desperate, either."

"True, that tends to scare guys off."

"Plus, you don't want to let him think he can walk all over you."

"No, definitely not! And you don't want to let him get away with chasing those other girls either."

"But don't go overboard with acting jealous!"

"But you should act somewhat jealous; otherwise he won't know that you care..."

Akane felt like tearing her hair out as their chatter continued. _"Why is it that everyone is so insistent on giving me confusing and conflicting advice? Can't someone just tell me straight and plainly what to do?"_ She was about to articulate that her friends were not helping when a sharp voice snapped, commanding her attention.

"Akane Tendo! Are you going to sit there all day or are you going to come when I call you and take your turn on the long jump?

"Y-Yes teacher," she responded sheepishly as she made her way to the track, forcing all other thoughts from her mind. _"This is no time to be thinking about Ranma, I need to concentrate on school now. I'll just figure out what to do later…"_

Time: 13:30

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 15:55

Location: Furinkan High School, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target: Home

Objective: Evasive Maneuvers

Phase 04.004

Akane did not figure out what to do later. When the final school bell rang she'd dashed out the door, still without a solution, or an explanation for her earlier behavior, intent on avoiding Ranma until she thought up something.

She assumed she'd been successful in giving him the slip, but as she exited the front doors of the school ahead of all the other students, a calloused had encircled her wrist pulling her up short.

"Akane." Ranma said evenly, looking at her through slanted eyes.

"R-Ranma!" she stuttered in surprise. "H-How did you get here so fast?"

He pointed upwards. "The window," he stated simply. "Didn't want to risk you running off again," his tone was clearly annoyed.

"Haha," she laughed nervously. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you avoiding me!" he growled.

"I'm not avoiding you," she insisted stubbornly, still lacking an explanation to give him. "Whatever gave you the idea I was avoiding you?" she rambled.

"You… Ugh! What is wrong with you Akane? Quit acting like a lunatic and tell me what the heck is going on with you!"

"I'm not…" she started to respond but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Ranchan? Akane? What's going on?" Ukyo asked as she exited the building and approached them, regarding Akane with some suspicion. She hadn't forgotten the scene Akane had caused in their class, or Akane's apparent distraction during gym. Akane was clearly up to something, and that made Ukyo nervous. Her eyes drifted to where Ranma's hand still clasped Akane's wrist, and stiffened, even as Ranma released Akane rather abruptly.

"Nothing's up," Ranma answered. "Akane and I were just about to head home," Ranma said, his eyes looking to Akane, almost as if trying to relay some kind of message to her. "Isn't that right, Akane?" he asked, his voice taking on a rather harsh, commanding inclination to it.

Akane flinched. "Uh, no need to hurry," she laughed nervously. "In fact, Ranma," she said, a grin lighting her features as a plan formed. "I bet you're hungry! Why don't you go with Ukyo and grab a bite to eat. After all, you haven't gotten to spend very much time together since we returned from China. I bet you're dying to catch up…"

Ukyo looked hopefully towards Ranma for a moment, but upon noticing how he regarded Akane with a wary frown her heart sank. Akane was most certainly up to something, and she wasn't about to get caught in the crossfire of whatever the girl was scheming.

"Now Akane, it's not very nice to impose me on Ucchan like that," Ranma gritted through clenched teeth, choosing his words carefully. "Besides, we were going to walk home together, remember?"

"Oh don't worry about me, I'll be fine! Really, I don't mind at all!"

Ukyo raised an eyebrow at her and actually managed to look somewhat perturbed by the situation. Meanwhile Ranma crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Akane.

"_Oh great, they're not buying it. Better think of something else… Fast… Um…"_

She opened her mouth, unsure of what words she would come up with, but before any left her mouth, the familiar sound of a bicycle bell chirped. She grinned even as Ranma and Ukyo frowned and looked to the source of the distraction as well. _"Phew," _Akane thought. _"Saved by the bell…"_

"Nihao Ranma!" Shampoo called skidding to a stop.

"Uh hey, Shampoo, uh, look, about today…"

"Shampoo too too sorry, Ranma. Just came by fastly to tell that Shampoo too busy to date Ranma today!"

"Uh, okay, that's cool, I uh…"

Whatever he would've said was interrupted, as Shampoo ignored his words and darted past both Ranma and Akane to Ukyo whom she pushed forward face to face with Ranma.

"Hey!" Ukyo yelled at being prodded. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Shampoo too busy with delivery today. Restaurant too popular! But chef girl restaurant not so popular. You take her on date instead?" Shampoo asked with a triumphant smirk directed at Akane. Akane merely raised an eyebrow as a confused response.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an insulted Ukyo's protests. "Hey now! My restaurant does much better than your stupid little noodle shack."

"Hush, hush you no be mad. Go date Ranma now."

"No way! You're up to something." Ukyo said regarding her suspiciously.

"_They're both acting weird," _Ukyo thought, looking from Shampoo, to Akane then back to Ranma who was scratching the back of his head looking equally confused. _"Something's going on here that I'm on the outside loop of. Both Akane and Shampoo want me to date Ranma? That's just too odd... I wonder what would happen if I did. Best not find out…"_

"Akane you can't cook!" Ukyo stated abruptly, stumbling upon an idea and smirking as she put it into motion.

"Hey now!" Akane sputtered. She really had no clue what was going on either, but felt rather insulted by the random, offhanded comment.

"No, no I just mean that you're not busy running a restaurant, so you're free to go out with Ranma instead," she stated, not sure what battle she was winning, but feeling triumphant nonetheless with her deductions and logic.

Shampoo blinked considering the alternative momentarily. She still didn't know what Akane had been planning or what would happen if someone dated Ranma, but figured Akane falling into her own trap, whatever that might have been would be just as satisfying if not more so than Ukyo falling into it. She grinned in agreement. "Yes, Akane date Ranma."

Akane blinked, feeling rather confused by the turn of events, and suddenly found herself imagining what it would be like if she followed through on their suggestion. Her eyes glazed slightly and a goofy grin spread across her lips as she slowly began to forget the numerous reasons she had for saying no.

"No way!" Ranma objected adamantly. However, his response had been anticipated by all, whereas Akane's, which was spoken at the same time, was not.

"Okay," she stated abruptly, a little more eager sounding than she had intended.

Suddenly three pairs of shocked eyes turned to her. "What?" they all screeched in unison.

"W-What?" Akane echoed their astonished question glancing between their suspicious stares. She laughed nervously. _"Yeaash, why'd I say that? I can't go out with Ranma right now, even if I wanted to. What was I thinking? Wasn't I just trying to get away from him?"_

"Uh you know, just… Kidding?" she drawled, hoping they'd forget about the comment entirely. It was an unrealistic wish of course, considering the bad luck she had received throughout the course of the day. The girls both erupted into immediate protests, as expected.

"Akane no steal husband!"

"Yah, Akane no fair! You can't date him!"

Out of the corner of her eye she managed to catch a glimpse of Ranma, staring at her, still confused and stunned into silence. Somehow that made her determined to find a way out of the awkward situation she had caused, and with a shrug, she stuttered only slightly as she faced the girls with feigned confidence and self assurance. "Okay then I won't. But it was your suggestion," she pointed out.

"Well yeah but..."

"Well which is it? Do you want me to date him or not?"

"Shampoo think yes."

"No! Shampoo what are you saying?"

"Tell you what. You guys figure it out and let me know what you decide. I'm going to go home and study. Later."

With that Akane spun on her heel and strolled out through the gates as if it was the most natural thing in the world, leaving Ranma standing bewildered with two equally confused girls. She only could hope that his shock would last long enough for her to beat a hasty retreat.

"Shampoo, did you give some kind of weird potion to Akane?" Ukyo asked her voice matter of fact and business like.

"No, not lately. You cook funny not so good sauce again and she eat?"

"Hey now! Of course not! This isn't my fault!"

"Then why she act so funny? Crazy ribbon girl come by lately?" Shampoo asked Ranma.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, forcefully shaking himself out of his stupor. "Uhhhh," he drawled stalling until his mind kicked back into motion. "Kodachi? Kodachi… Stopping by…" he had to repeat the question to himself in order to get his mind to wrap around it. "Uh, no. Not since Saturday at the uh..." He trailed off as two battle auras flickered to life at the mere mention of the wedding. The near slip had gotten his mind swinging back into full capacity. "Uh, dojo! Yah, when she stopped by the dojo for no particular reason…" he babbled rapidly. "Nothing suspicious there. But uh I gotta go," he said, dashing off and leaving the irate females to face off in his wake.

"Something isn't right here," Ukyo said.

"Shampoo agree. Akane act funny."

"You got that right."

"Ladies!" said a voice behind them. "So you're wondering what Akane's up to?" They turned to look at Nabiki who gave them a crooked grin. "Well I can fill you in if you like. For a small fee of course," she smirked holding her upturned palm.

Both girls sighed in defeat as they began to dig into their pockets.

Time: 16:05

Phase 004:004, Mission Status: Success

SMI001 - Foiling Akane, Mission Status: Failure

UMI001 - Unveiling Akane's Plan, Mission Status: Failure

Commencing Side Mission: NMI001 - Messing with Akane

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 16:10

Location: Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target: Home

Objective: Evasive Maneuvers

Phase 04.005

As soon as Akane was through the school gates she turned and began sprinting at full speed towards her house. She found the turn of events between the other girls rather amusing but regardless had no desire to stick around until the end of the argument when she would inevitably have to explain herself to Ranma. Still, she considered it quite laughable that Shampoo and Ukyo had both missed out on a no strings attached date with Ranma due to their suspicions that she was up to something. She reasoned that must be the answer to their odd behavior. _"Maybe this awkwardness I'm causing is good for something after all…Reverse Psychology truly is a powerful thing! Heh!"_

Then her heart fell as she realized what she had just done. _"Oh no! No, no, no, NO! What am I thinking? This is no time for gloating! I just failed at my primary objective! I raised the suspicions of the two people that posed the biggest threat to our mission! Ugh! How could I have been so stupid and careless! Getting Ranma suspicious is one thing, but Shampoo and Ukyo? Not good! Now that they know that I'm up to something they'll be on their guard and then we'll never be able to trick them into anything! And after that whole display they'd have to be stupid to not suspect something! Stupid Akane! What am I going to do now? I am such an idiot!"_

She wanted to scream or cry for ruining things, but at that moment a more pressing dilemma presented itself. As she turned the last corner onto her street she heard his voice calling her name and immediately grew rigid with fright. _"Oh no! Not now! I can't deal with this right now,"_ she resolved, looking back at him and noting the determined look on his face as he raced towards her having an advantage over her because of his tendency to cut corners when running along fences. However, it was now a straight shot to the house and she focused all her energy into her legs sprinting forward as fast as she could. She was fast, but she knew perfectly well that he was a great deal faster. And as they closed in on the house she knew he gained. "No matter," she muttered. "I don't need to be faster, just fast enough." With the last burst of energy she possessed she lurched through the gates to her home ahead of him, confident she was home free. What she failed to notice was even as she crossed under the arch his feet thumped on the gate above her head which he used as a spring board to flip expertly off rotating in the air to land directly in front of her. Akane for her part noticed too late, still caught up in the joy of her victory. They collided with a spectacular crash and fell to the ground in a tangled heap of arms and legs, Ranma banging his head on the cement step to the front door.

"Ow," Ranma growled, aggravated by the situation. He sat up slowly with Akane leaning against him while rubbing his head. "Stupid, klutzy, TOMBOY!" he shouted, annunciating each word with his growing agitation.

It was not an unusual routine. He had fully expected she would return with her own insults next, but instead she scampered to her feet brushing against him briefly as she vaulted forward towards the door. It wasn't what he had anticipated, which is why he almost missed her completely. "Hey wait a minute!" He yelled his hand reaching out and closing around her ankle as he simultaneously rolled and tried to push to his feet. Akane yelped and tripped forward but quickly balanced herself, lashing her foot backwards to free it only to accidentally connect with his chin in the process.

"Ow! Violent chick!" It didn't really hurt much but caused him to fall forward again as her yanking her foot free had caught him off balance. Akane still neglected to even pause or react to his insult and instead bolted through the door. Ranma recovered quickly and jumped to his feet and also crashed through the door just in time to catch Akane hopping on one foot towards the stairs while simultaneously removing her last shoe. She looked back at him in a panic. "Akane!" He yelled. "Come on I..."

She didn't wait for him to finish, and instead peeled off her shoe and dashed up the stairs.

"Dang!" He cried as he kicked off his own shoes and took off after her. She reached the top first and ran down the hall practically crashing into the wall at the end of it as she slid around the corner altering her corse towards her room at the end of the second hall. She was afraid to look back hearing the quick steady thumping of his feet on the ground not far behind her. Yet somehow she made it first and ran into her room, spinning around just in time to see his face as she began to swing the door closed. "Aka..."

Slam. Click. Sigh. Akane leaned against the door and silently slid to the floor, breathing heavily.

"Dang!" Ranma shouted. Without pausing he quickly altered his own corse and ran into the nearest room, which belonged to Nabiki. Once there he vaulted out the window and used the roof awning to climb over to Akane's window, not losing any of his momentum. He was about to retch it open and yell at her, but suddenly stopped short at the sight of her, crying into her hands in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Dummy, dummy, dummy!" came her muffled voice from inside the room.

He stared, unable to move, fear settling in his gut once more.

"_Crud,"_ he thought. _"What in the world did I do this time?"_

Time: 16:20

Phase 004:005, Mission Status: Success

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 17:50

Location: Tendo Dojo, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Regrouping

Phase 004.006

"I am such a DUMMY!" Akane screamed, enunciating her cry with a strong punch that nearly took her older sister's head off.

"Eep!" Nabiki yelped, narrowly ducking underneath her sister's fist.

"It's not so bad, Akane," Nabiki placated, quickly regaining her composure, even in the face of her sister's aggressive maneuvers, as she twisted, parried and dodged, desperately searching for an opening that would allow her to push back to the offense. _"I must have a death wish," _Nabiki inwardly considered. _"At least it's a good way to get quality training…"_

"Not so bad?" Akane asked, incredulously. "NOT SO BAD!!! I ruined everything!"

A side kick nearly caught Nabiki in the stomach and splintered the dojo walls directly behind her instead.

"Yeaaagh!" Nabiki cried, giving up on defense and dashing to the farthest corner of the dojo instead. "Don't worry Akane, I took care of everything!" she insisted frantically.

"How!?!" Akane demanded. Her voice was still anxious and disbelieving but the declaration had at least gotten Akane to drop her fighting stance.

"Don't worry, I handled Ukyo and Shampoo."

Akane regarded her doubtfully and wiped a hand across her brow as she frowned. "What did you tell them?" she asked, her panic ebbing away slowly.

"The truth."

"You what?" she yelled, her panic flashing to full fruition once more.

"Well a version of the truth at least," Nabiki assuaged her. "After all the best lies are the ones that are mostly true."

"So then how _much_ of the truth did you tell them?" she demanded.

"Basically just that you've decided to back off and let Ranma make his mind up on his own and that you won't get in the way anymore. I said that even if they hadn't shown up, Ranma wouldn't have gone through with the wedding and because of that you're annoyed with him. The only way he can make it up to you is by choosing you of his own free will."

Akane shuffled her feet nervously. "Don't you think that's kind of risky? I mean now they're going to be all the more aggressive chasing after him and I won't be able to do anything about it. And if he doesn't choose me…"

"Not my problem. After all, you did say you were going to try and accept his decision no matter what it may be."

Akane sighed. "I did, didn't I?"

"But that doesn't mean you have to just sit around and wait Akane. If I were you I'd try to make sure he picksyou!"

"You're right Nabiki! Especially after today... Ooh I better go talk to him!"

Nabiki watched as her sister disappeared out the door. "Oops! I forgot to tell her about that other part," she contemplated slowly, and then shrugged. "Oh well. She'll figure it out eventually."

Time: 18:00

End Phase 004.006

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 18:00

Location: Entryway, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Unknown (AKA: Winging it)

Phase 04.007

"Ranma!" Akane called as she rounded the corner towards the entryway, expecting to find him somewhere upstairs. However, instead she found him in the room, talking on the phone, a scowl frozen on his face. He looked up at her sharply as she approached, causing her to flinch slightly.

"Yeah, she's right here. Hold on a minute." He held the phone to his shoulder and spoke fiercely towards her. "If you're going to give out your phone number to half the guys in class, the least you can do is be available to answer the phone when they call. Kasumi's been interrupted from making dinner four times in the last hour and finally had to put me in charge of answering." He shoved the phone at her roughly. "I'm not your personal secretary Akane!"

Akane blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? I didn't give my phone number to anyone!" she said avoiding taking the phone from him.

"Yeah well someone did!"

"Well it wasn't me!"

"Whatever," he scoffed obviously mad, pushing the phone at her again, forcing her to take it this time. "Not like I care. Do what you want. I'm out of here."

"R-Ranma!" she called, but he ignored her, leaving through the front door and slamming it closed behind him. She started to go after him until she remembered she still held the receiver in her hand and in a frazzled state lifted it to her ear. "H-Hello? This is Akane…"

"Ah, hi Tendo san this is Morita from class?"

"Uh, hi Morita-san. What can I do for you?" she asked cautiously.

"Well, you see, I uh, heard that you and Ranma called off your engagement…"

"_Huh?"_

"And, I uh, know that you're anxious to find a new boyfriend…"

"_Huh?!?"_

"At least that's what the sign at school said…"

"_HUH!?!?!?"_

"So I uh, was wondering if maybe, uh, you and I could, uh…"

"I'm sorry Morita, I'm going to have to call you back. I feel the sudden urge to kill my sister…" Akane said in an eerie, flat tone.

"Oh okay, but you uh, don't have my number and I…"

Click.

"NABIKI!!!!!"

Time: 18:10

End of Phase 004.007

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 18:50

Location: Entryway, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Phase 004.008

Akane sat still on the steps of the stairs staring sadly at the door with her chin resting in one palm. The other hand rested on the phone she had placed in her lap. "Stupid Nabiki," she mumbled. "Where'd she run off to again anyway?" She scowled as a sharp ring pierced her solitude and with a deep sigh she lifted the receiver to her ear, answering in a bored and mechanical voice.

"Tendo residence. This is Akane... Hi Sugita-san..." Akane yawned listening to the voice on the other end. "That's very nice of you to ask Sugita-san but I already have a fiancée..." She tried her best to sound polite and turn the guys down nicely but it was growing tiresome. Thanks to Nabiki's little stunt she had spent the last hour rejecting boys that called to ask her out on dates. "No we haven't broken up... Yeah that was just a rumor..."

The whole situation was annoying, and she shuddered to think about what school would be like the next day. _"This is as bad as the beginning of the year when all the guys challenged me each morning. Scratch that, this is worse. At least back then they didn't have my phone number. Not to mention a long list of new questions!" _

"What? No I'm not going to give you that Chinese girl's phone number!" Pause. "No, I'm not going to give you Ukyo's either! She's in our class, ask her yourself!" Pause. "No, Ranma's not here right now, and even if he was he wouldn't give you..." She winced and flushed suddenly at the question being asked, growing even more irate. "No! His girl half does not date guys! Pervert!" she screamed before slamming the phone down with a humph.

As soon as she did, the front door slid open and Ranma walked through it making a beeline for the living room. "Ah! Ranma! Hold on a second," she called as she hastily put the phone back on its table struggling a minute with the cord that had managed to get tangled around the stair railings and was threatening to now trip her. He ignored her and kept walking past.

"Ranma wait, I need to…" she was interrupted by the phone ringing yet again and growled in frustration. "Augh!"

"Better get that Akane," he said flatly.

"I'm not going to… Listen, Ranma, I…" she lunged forward and clasped his upper arm only to have it jerked away, a slip of paper, fluttering to the ground unnoticed with his abrupt movement.

He glared and she found herself frozen by the fierce intensity of his stare. "Isn't this what you wanted, Akane? Me to date girls, and you to date other guys? That is why you were trying to push Ukyo and Shampoo on me, right? So you could be free to go off with some random jerk?"

"What? No! I…"

"Well, I think it's the best idea you've had yet!" he spat bitterly. "I never wanted to be engaged to an un-cute tomboy like you in the first place!"

His words stung and she reached out towards him desperately. "R-Ranma, you don't mean that! Listen to me; it's all a misunder…"

The incessant phone ringing continued and he looked past her to glare at the cause of his frustration. "Answer the dang phone, Akane," he said coldly. "Stupid thing's giving me a headache."

And then he was gone, leaving Akane anchored in the hallway, with tears in her eyes. She looked down, and her sight drifted to the crumpled piece of paper on the ground. Lifting it and smoothing it out, she found the flier her stupid sister had apparently posted at the school, broadcasting their phone number and her availability. "H-He went to get… This?"

She clutched the paper gingerly and then slowly turned it over, seeing scribbled words, written and crossed out in his handwriting, composing a rough prose that she quickly recognized as another piece to their stupid literature assignment.

"'For a moment I truly did think you like a Willow, constant, and unchanging, and for a moment I'd had hope. But it appears as if I was right all along, for you truly are as fickle and callous as the wind after all.'"

Below that, another line was written and scratched out hastily. "'Why didn't you wait for me?'" it read simply.

"Ranma," she whispered, tears dripping down her cheeks. The phone continued to grow louder, fueling her distress as it shifted to anger. "This is all Nabiki's fault," she growled. "She's ruined everything, and now I… Now… No! I'm not going to give up!" she shouted in frustration. "It's not over, Ranma, until I say it's over!"

With that she spun and lifted the phone, a new-found vigor in her voice. "Hello? Tendo Residence, this is Akane… Ah, yes, Yamata-san… No, I'm sorry to say, I'm not available, however," she grinned evilly. "My sister Nabiki is! If you want I can…" Click. The line went dead. "Hello? Yamata-san? Huh," Akane smirked. "Guess the boy's smarter than he looks."

With that she unplugged the phone viciously for the wall and stormed up the stairs, intent on coming up with the perfect response to Ranma's note, and a new plan of action.

Time: 19:00

End of Phase 004.008

Commencing Phase 005.001

...End Transmission...

* * *

Stay tuned for Chapter 5: MI005 - Flirting With Disaster. Nabiki herself said Akane's really bad at flirting. Let's see just how true that is... Will Akane make things better? Or will her 'attempts' just make things worse? Find out next time!

**Author Notes:** Still not liking this tangent part of the story much. Really wish I hadn't started it and had stuck with my original outline. Oh well. I'm expecting I'll only have one more of these chapters and then I can move on to 'Book 2' which will get into the actual matchmaking schemes that Nabiki has cooked up. If you like the current direction the story is taking, please review and let me know! It will make me feel so much better!

To everyone who has reviewed, thank you so much! I always appreciate comments, even if they are constructive criticisms or suggestions. I thought since I didn't have too many notes for this chapter I would take some time to respond to a few reviews I've gotten.

**Hannahkimi - **Thank you so much for all your encouraging comments! They mean a lot, and I really appreciate you being specific about what you like, since it gives me ideas on what to expand on. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope I'm updating fast enough for you and everyone else. I really want to try and have this story finished by the end of March, since that's the actual end of the story timeline. Sorry if the chapter numbering is misleading having two zeros before the number. I really just did that so there would always be a zero in the front and it would look more... I dunno, officially documented? *shrug* I have no intention of doing a 100+ chapter story though. Yikes! I'm expecting this will be somewhere around 10 chapters. Which means I'm almost halfway done! Yay! Also I'm glad you like my characterization for Nabiki since that really is the hardest part for me. I have trouble getting her and have been trying really hard to pin her character down. Also glad you liked Ranma's introspections! I worked really hard on it and had to trim so much of it so I'm glad my efforts paid off. Hope you're enjoying the story, please keep reviewing!

**iheartvala - **Glad you enjoy the idea for my story and I hope you're still enjoying where it's going! Hope you liked my other stories too! I really need to go back and finish LVOR one of these days. Plan on doing that as soon as I'm done with this story actually, and then maybe I'll work on EY some more...

**Taechunsa - **Glad you liked the start. I'd love to hear what you think of more recent chapters! Thank you for reviewing!

**tomboy 26 **- Thank you so much for so many awesome, well thought out reviews! You're not rambling at all, I love hearing your comments, and the detail about what you liked. That's always appreciated; I look forward to hearing what you have to say about my new chapters. I'm glad you're catching the jokes and more humorous aspects of the story. It sucks writing jokes if no one laughs. Then I just feel stupid. :-p In regards to Nabiki, she does play a very crucial role in this story, and her reasons for helping Akane are not entirely altruistic at all! :-) But I am trying to add some depth to her. Cool thing about Takahashi is she created a character that is so secretive that the readers don't even know that much about her. Makes it hard to write her in character, but it does give you a bunch of different directions you can take. And I'm finding the more I write this story the more I get to like her actually! As far as Akane being sure about her feelings for Ranma, I tend to find that quite likely after the end of the manga. They went through a lot there at the end. One of them had to come out of it a little more self assured and mature. Obviously it wasn't Ranma, unfortunately. Baka indeed. I find the manga a lot different than the anime, and agree that Akane really isn't that violent and temperamental in the manga, especially not in the last few volumes. She actually comes across as very caring and sweet in my interpretation, and I take most of her hesitations about Ranma as shyness on her part, which is kind of what I'm using to base my story on, at least this current 'tangent.' (She's my favorite character too btw!) As far as Ranma and Akane getting to have a 'normal' conversation... Eh... Let's just say it gets worse before it gets better. But it will get worse and better in the next chapter, I promise! Although then it will get worse again... Heh. Hope I'm not giving anyone whiplash here... And I will update as fast as possible, I promise!

**MZephyr - **Thanks for your comments! I'm glad you find this interesting. I hope you're not too worried about the number of chapters anymore and how I will handle the resolutions for the characters. I'm not going to say a whole lot about how it's going to work out, but I will tell you that I've put a lot of thought into how it will be done. I'm not going for the whole cast being married off either. The goal is mostly to get everyone headed in the right direction, so things will be a little open ended, but satisfying I hope, and not quick, unrealistic and forced. At least that's what I'm going for! Not so much 'happy endings' but more like 'happy beginnings.' Anyway, I hope I pull it off well, and I hope you like how I do it!

**amberangel999 - **So glad you're enjoying the story! Thanks for your comments! No, Akane's a wreck; she most certainly can't get it right. Lol. I'm enjoying that...

**Kachie - **Thanks so much for the comment and telling me you liked the chapters I wanted to cut. It really helps me not hate myself for doing them! Lol. I'm glad to see people are enjoying them!

**jayqueue - **Glad you're enjoying it! And also, thank you so much for the suggestion about turning my cut pieces of the original Ranma introspection from chapter 2 into a oneshot. I think that's a really good idea actually! I hadn't thought of it before, but now I have an idea of how I can go about doing that and make it a unique story. So thank you so much for the idea!

And I think that's about it. Thank you to everyone else that reviewed! I'm glad for all the comments and would really like to get more! Also, check out the poll on my page that relates to this story. Chapter 6 will be the first 'matchmaking' chapter (I hope), and I haven't decided who Akane and Nabiki are going to tackle first. At the moment I'm expecting it will be either Mousse or Ryoga with their respective significant others, but I could take it either way, so please vote on that! And check out some of my other stories while you're at it! They're kind of old, but still pretty good, if I do say so myself. Especially Missing You, which I was always very proud of.

Thanks again,

- C -


	5. MI005 Flirting With Disaster

Chapter 5: Flirting With Disaster

* * *

…Begin Transmission…

File: MI005

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 19:30

Location: Bedroom of Subject 001, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Phase 005.001

"AGH! No!" Akane shouted, crumpling up a piece of paper and tossing it in a small wastebasket that was already overflowing with similarly discarded notes.

"No, no, no! It's just not turning out right! None of this!" she cried waving her arms in the air in frustration.

She sighed in agitation and pushed back from the desk, tapping her pencil momentarily before also tossing it aside and standing to restlessly pace the room. "This is taking too long anyway. I'm wasting my time. He said it himself, he's fine with the idea of dating other people. In fact, he's probably glad! He probably can't wait. It's the perfect excuse to see someone else after all. And now it's only a matter of time before he goes and picks one of those other girls to go out with. But I can't let that happen. If he goes out with someone else then he'll realize what a mistake it was to be with me in the first place." She sighed deeply. "If he ever did favor me it was only due to a moment of insanity. I can't compete with Shampoo or Ukyo… So I have to stop him!" she said with sudden growing determination. "But I need to act quickly. I need to figure out a way to make him pick me!"

She suddenly remembered Nabiki's comment about her having no idea how to flirt, and her pride kicked in, immediately overtaking her feelings of doubt and apprehension. "I'll show her I know how to flirt just as well as any of his other stupid fiancées!" she grumbled. Then with determination, she picked up the original note once more. "But first I really have to do something about this." With a scowl she haphazardly scribbled the first thing that came to mind without giving it much thought. Then she stormed out of her room, pausing only to slip the piece of paper under the door to Ranma's room.

As she made her way down the stairs, the thought that she had been trying so hard to keep back began to trouble her as she remembered his cold scowl directed at her alone. "I just hope he's not too mad at me," she whispered to herself, ignoring the tears prickling at the bag of her eyes. She shook her head from side to side to dispel the image. "Don't think about it Akane. There's no time. Things will be fine. You'll see. Just have to stick to the plan…" Despite her words she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with dread.

Time: 19:35

End of Phase 005.001, Mission Status: Complete

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 19:45

Location: The Roof, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Akane need not have worried so much, because to be entirely accurate, Ranma was no longer mad. Correction. Ranma was no longer mad at Akane. He was however more than a little ticked at himself and his own behavior.

"Smooth Ranma, really smooth," the pigtailed martial artist growled to himself as he paced angry, tight figure eights on the roof of the Tendo house. Decidedly he stopped and fisted his fingers into the ends of his hair, shouting in agitation. "Augh! What is wrong with me!"

"First I go off to get that blasted flyer, trying to defend her honor like some stupid knight in shining armor she never asked for. Why? Because I actually felt sorry for her. Because the whole thing reeked of Nabiki, not Akane. Girls that beat up guys for asking them out don't go around casually handing out their phone numbers to everyone in the whole school. Girls that want to make a couple yen off their sister's popularity do. I know Akane. I know her better than that. I should've trusted it was some stupid awkward misunderstanding, just like it always is! I was going to go in, find her in her room, or the dojo, and ask calmly and rationally what had happened. And what did I do? I came in, saw her waiting by the phone, and snapped. Instead of showing her I trusted her, like I'd intended, I got all jealous at the worst possible moment and implied she's some shameless flirt and then said it was a good idea for us to date other people! Which is NOT what I want! AUGH! Why am I letting her get to me like this?"

He flopped down on his back and stared up at the sky, letting out a deep regretful sigh. The question was rhetorical. He knew exactly why she was getting to him.

It used to be so much easier to bounce back after having a fight with her. All he had to do was convince himself that he didn't care about her and that it didn't matter if she didn't like him. Besides, back then he knew that it would only be a matter of time before they made up and went back to acting as if everything was fine.

But things had changed. Now when they fought and he went away from her angry, he flashed back to that moment not so long ago where he held her lifeless body in his arms and all he could think about was that he'd wasted too much time thinking she'd always be there to tease and fight with, and that they could take their good sweet time working things out. But when time had run out he recognized how stupid that was. It had been such a waste, he'd thought. She was gone, and he'd never told her that he loved her…

So now it was no small thing to bide his time until they naturally made up. Every moment he spent apart from her, he felt like some blasted clock was ominously ticking away their time together. Somehow he felt as if he didn't make things right soon she would be gone from him forever.

'You should be thanking your lucky stars she came back to you, not fighting with her.'

Ranma scowled. The words were true enough but he didn't appreciate where they had come from, namely a wooden sign that his panda father had smacked him over the head with in greeting.

He turned and kicked his father in the furry chin. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

'Oh no?' said another sign. Ranma looked at him skeptically and was about to open his mouth to retort when another voice caught his attention.

"Ranma? What's this note about?"

Ranma quickly spun around to find his mother climbing up onto the roof via a ladder while curiously scrutinizing a piece of paper. His eyes grew wide as he recognized the paper and he quickly checked his pockets, confirming to his immense horror that the flyer was in fact gone. His fear grew even more as his mother continued speaking.

"Are you writing… Poetry? That's not very manly," she continued, her lips creasing into a thin line. Before she had a chance to continue, Ranma had snatched the paper from her laughing nervously.

"Hahaha, uh no, of course not Mother. Well, I mean not by choice at least. It's an assignment for school is all. Kind of lame if you ask me." She still looked at him warily so he continued. "It's for that uh Tale of Ben… er… Genji book, you know?" He searched his memories frantically, trying to remember what Akane had said about the main character that would help get him out of his current predicament. _"Womanizing dog, that was it right? Alright! Thank goodness one of us actually read the book…"_

"Can't say I enjoyed all that stupid mushy junk in the book and the poetry and what not, but you gotta admire the way that guy hooked up with so many different chicks. Although if it were me I wouldn't have needed all the poetry to win a girl over…" he drawled with his easily feigned and far too well practiced confidence.

Apparently satisfied, his mother's face grew into a brilliant smile. "Of course not. My son is so manly!" she beamed.

"Uh, haha, right Mom. Thanks. I uh, gotta go now!" he said as he leapt off the roof and dropped into the yard, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. "Well that was close! How'd they find this stupid thing anyway? Guess it's good they saw it instead of Akane, or else…" His heart stopped in his chest as his eyes fell upon writing that hadn't been there before.

"'Compare the handwriting. Idiot.'"

"Oh crud. Akane did see it! I… Wait…" Ranma turned the paper over and slowly began to smile as he looked at the difference between Akane's handwriting and the handwriting that had made up the flyer. It was similar, but still had some very distinct differences, and now that he took the time to think about it he realized it looked familiar enough, and he knew exactly who had written it.

"Nabiki." He said decidedly, confirming the suspicions he already had. "She's up to something, and Akane's somehow involved. Now how she's involved…" He reread the note. "Idiot," he chuckled to himself. "Ah, who cares what they're up to? At least Akane seems to be back to normal." He couldn't explain it but he felt so incredibly relieved to have her insult him again in her old manner. Not the way she had earlier when she was just being incredibly temperamental and mean, but rather the self righteous, haughty manner she always used. And that was a demeanor he was familiar with and could deal with. In truth he had never been so happy to have her call him an idiot. "Guess I can actually go talk to her now that she's back to acting like Akane," he grinned as he made his way back into the house.

"I suppose I should go apologize and tell her that I…"

He stepped into the house from the porch and rounded the corner into the hallway, practically bumping into a most terrifying sight: Akane, wearing a cute frilly apron, and holding a plate of what could only be referred to as food in name alone.

Time: 19:50

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 19:50

Location: Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Flirting: To the Heart Through the Stomach

Phase 005.002

"Oh good! You're here, Ranma Dear, I made you a delicious dinner!"

His eyes went from her cheerful expression, to the gelatinous green mess on the plate in her hands and then back to her face again. His eyes narrowed into a scowl. His intended apology died on his lips, and his temper suddenly flared as he shouted at her.

"So after everything else you've put me through this week, now you're going to try and kill me?"

"Whatever do you mean, Darling?" Akane blinked at him in confusion, her bewildered, clueless expression somehow classically adorable. She of course had no such intentions of killing him. Her logic had been simple. She had to show him how she felt somehow, and every other girl that had tried to get close to Ranma in the past had used this very same tactic. Cooking. It was the only thing they agreed upon, and the main thing he responded to. Ukyo had her wonderful okonomiyaki that he couldn't go a week without, Shampoo had her exquisite, exotic Chinese cuisine, which even Kasumi seemed to appreciate, seeing as she ordered noodles from the Nekohanten on such a regular basis, and Kodachi had her foreign cuisines and expensive tastes for rich, fine foods, that Ranma had eaten, albeit reluctantly, and liked. At least until he'd realized it was laced with a paralysis potion. So Akane figured if she wanted to show her affection towards him and do something nice for him, cooking was definitely the way to go. Unfortunately she was forgetting one very important detail.

"You're cooking is toxic. Poisonous. Inedible. Pig slop. Scratch that, it's not even fit for a pig. And if you think I'm going to touch it then you…"

Had he been looking for it he would have seen a glimpse of the old Akane, because for a brief moment her eyes narrowed and her battle aura flickered. But then it was gone, almost as quickly as it had appeared and she clenched her teeth against her anger.

"_Okay Akane, this is it. I have to handle this… differently…" _She thought hard, trying to figure out something to do or say, but was coming up with nothing. Then quite suddenly a memory flashed through her mind. This wasn't the first time a girl had offered him food and he'd refused it.

Setting her nerves and pushing the last of her self respect way down into the bottom of her consciousness she squared her shoulders and faced him with a firm resolve. _"Okay, here goes. Just got to ask myself… What would Kodachi do?"_

"Oh Ranma Darling," she exclaimed, her voice dropping to a lilting melodic tone as she turned her head aside demurely with one hand pressed to her flushed cheeks, feigning a shy embarrassment. "Why must you tease me so? After I worked so hard to make such a wonderful meal for you? After all, they say the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

Akane wanted to gag in distaste.

Ranma's jaw practically dropped to the floor. "F-Fastest way to a man's… H-Heart?" he questioned awkwardly. Then suddenly, his shock gave way to suspicion as he shook his head and regained his composure, gauging her with a wary eye. "Oh I get it. You poisoned it, didn't you? Not that it would be necessary. Your food is toxic enough as it is without having to add anything."

Akane silently fumed. _"Okay… That's clearly not working. Ranma 1, Akane 0. Moving on… Let's try Shampoo's approach."_

Akane hmphed dramatically and then smiled up at Ranma wiggling around slightly for effect as she'd noticed Shampoo often did in order to show off some of her better… assets. "No you big silly. It's not poisoned. This time," she added as an afterthought. "Just new recipe I wanted to try out just for you. It's so, so good too, I promise! Be a good boy now and say 'Aaah'!" she finished as she took a bite between two chopsticks and sidled up close to him waiting with the food hovered expectantly before his mouth.

Ranma immediately leaned away. "No way!" he stated adamantly.

Akane deflated slightly in defeat. _"Ranma 2, Akane still 0. Too, too bad too. Akane sure that one work… Aiya! I mean Ah! Enough of the Shampoo talk. I feel my IQ just plummeted ten points. But that just leaves Ukyo…"_

In the midst of her thought process she failed to notice as Ranma snatched the chopsticks from her hand. "If it's 'so, so good' how 'bout you try it first?" he stated, plopping the bite into her own mouth.

For a moment she reeled back in shock at the horrible taste and then her eyes drifted shut in a sudden faint.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted catching her quickly with one arm as he simultaneously caught her plate with his opposite hand.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she looked up at his concerned expression as he hovered over her. She smiled in gratitude and was about to open her mouth to thank him, but he spoke first.

"See! I told you it wasn't safe to eat!"

He fully expected to find her fist in his face, but instead, she straightened up and took the plate from his hand. "You're right!" she exclaimed. "And to think I was about to make you eat it. I really am a failure as a woman and a chef," she sniffed dramatically.

"You- ah, don't have to take it that far…"

"At this rate I'll never be a suitable wife!"

"Uh…"

Then with determination she grasped the plate and the chopsticks, staring at it intently. "I must finish this meal on my own! That's the only way for me to learn the true error of my ways!"

"Now hold on! Why don't you just throw it out?"

Akane thought about it for a moment. _"Yeah why didn't Ukyo just throw out that blasted sauce in the first place? Would've saved us all a whole lot of trouble. But then I guess she wouldn't have had anything to guilt trip Ranma with. I'm not going to try and manipulate him though…"_

"Hey, Akane? Earth to Akane!"

He was waving a hand in front of her face to get her attention and with a brilliant smile she suddenly turned to him. "No worries Hon!" she said as she jumped to her feet. "You just sit tight! I'll just keep trying until I get it right!"

Before he could say anything else she was gone into the kitchen once more. "B-But… That's what I'm afraid of!" he whimpered in her wake.

Time: 19:55

Phase 005.002 Mission Status: In Progress

Attempt 1-3: Complete Disaster

Continuing with Phase 005.002, Against Advice to the Contrary

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Time: 20:25

Location: Kitchen, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Continuing with Previous Objective (Unfortunately): Flirting: To the Heart Through the Stomach

Phase 005.002

"Ranma 12, Akane 0. I really suck at this cooking stuff." Akane sighed deeply as she cleaned up the remains of her latest creation and the mangled pieces of metal that once made up a microwave. "I'm sorry, Kasumi," she muttered miserably. "I was just in a hurry, and I thought the biscuits would bake faster in the microwave!"

"That's alright Akane dear, it's an honest mistake," her older sister responded patiently. "But next time try to remember that the microwave should only be used to heat things up. Not bake. And you really shouldn't put a metal backing sheet in there. Actually you shouldn't put metal in there at all…"

Akane wiped her hands on her apron and sighed again.

Twenty minutes, seven other attempts, two perfectly good pots, and a previously working toaster oven later… Akane finally gave up on cooking…

Time: 20:45

Attempts 4-16: A Complete Success in Biochemical Weaponry Creation. (Unfortunately that was not the primary objective…)

End of Phase 005.002 Mission Status: Terminated Along With: (See list of Causalities)

Casualties: Microwave (1), Toaster over (1), Baking Sheets (3), Pots (2), Eggs (23), Diesel Fuel (2.6 gallons), Ammonia (1/2 bottle), Vinegar…

…Error 543-12: Message truncated due to size…

Commencing Phase 005.003

* * *

Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Location: Tea Room, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Time: 20:50

Objective: Flirting: Tactic A

Phase 005.003

"Time for a new plan," Akane thought as she peered around the corner at Ranma who was watching television in the tea room. "Okay, so what would Ukyo do? They always seem pretty chummy after all… Oh yeah, that's right. They always get closer reminiscing about past memories and such. Well I can do that! After all, Ranma and I have been through a lot together too! Alright, here goes…"

"Ranma-Sweetie!" Akane called. She plopped down next to him and he immediately scooted away from her. The cooking attempts had been enough to make him more than a little cautious of her. Not to mention the torrential mood swings she'd displayed over the last few days. And if that weren't enough the random pet names she was using were seriously creeping him out.

"What now Akane?"

"I was just thinking… Remember that time when Azusa Shiratori and Mikado Sanzenin challenged us to the Martial Arts Skating match?"

"Yeeaaah," he drawled suspiciously. "What about it?" he asked not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Well, I don't know. I was just thinking... Wasn't that fun?"

He snorted. "Which part? The part when Ryoga and I had to drag you out of the water after you practically drowned? Or maybe the part when I plummeted into the wall and practically got crushed to death? Or maybe you're talking about the time when Mikado kissed me? No definitely nothing fun there ringing a bell," he glared.

Akane faced off with him for a moment, opened her mouth to reply and then groaned in exasperation. "Never mind," she grumbled as she dragged herself to her feet and trudged out of the room mumbling to herself about going back to the drawing board as he watched her go, scratching his head in confusion.

Time: 21:00

End of Phase 005.003, Mission Status: Failure

* * *

Time: 22:00

Commencing Phase 005.004: Flirting: Tactic B

"Okay," Akane whispered, watching as Ranma switched off the television and made his way towards the kitchen for an evening snack. "Time for a new plan." After giving it some very intense thought over the course of an hour she'd decided to try Shampoo's hug attack. "Here goes nothing!"

"Ranma!" Akane called as she bounced around a corner to intercept him as he passed and leapt forward to embrace him. Unfortunately she had failed to calculate that he had excellent reflexes, and at the last minute he sidestepped her, and she ended up hurdling forward to collapse onto the ground.

"Ow!" she groaned.

"Geez Akane? What's the deal? You tripped or something?"

"Or something," she grumbled under her breath as she once again trudged to her feet and made her way down the rest of the hallway without looking back.

Once around the corner and out of his sight she leaned back to consider the failure briefly. "Well that's odd. It always works for Shampoo… Why not… Oh I get it! Shampoo always clobbers him with her bicycle first so that he's thrown off guard! I wondered why she always did that. Very well then," she said turning back in the direction of her target, a malicious grin on her face. "I just need to…"

"Oh no you don't," Nabiki said materializing behind Akane and reaching into her sister's hammer space to pluck out her mallet. "I'm confiscating this."

"Nabiki!"

"No property damage, remember?"

"Grrr… I should've never taught you how to manipulate hammer space! When did you get home anyway? Where were you?"

"Just now. And out. But more importantly, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to flirt with Ranma," Akane responded as if it was the most natural, obvious thing in the world.

"You-You're trying to…" A grin overcame Nabiki's expression and she erupted into a fit of laughter. "Oh that's just hilarious!"

"Hey! It's not funny! You know I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if it wasn't for you and your stupid flyer."

Nabiki sobered slightly. "Oh that's right. About that…"

Akane was too absorbed in her rant to notice Nabiki's interjection and instead continued uninhibited. "Now Ranma thinks I'm off trying to get some other guy, so I had to find some way to show him that I'm only interested in him. But as you've mentioned before, I have no idea how to flirt, so I was trying to act like all the other girls he's engaged to, but for some odd reason that is having absolutely no affect on him whatsoever!"

"Well of course not, Akane! I could've told you myself that it wouldn't."

That had gotten Akane's attention and she immediately looked to her older sister. "You could?"

"Of course! I mean think about it, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi have been trying those tactics for almost a year now and it's never worked for them! What made you think it would work for you?"

Akane's mouth dropped and she slapped her palm to her forehead. "Ugh! Of course! I am such an idiot!"

Nabiki smirked. "Well it works out for the best in the end because…"

"Well what am I supposed to do then?" Akane growled her attention devoted on Nabiki apparently selective to only hearing things that would solve her current dilemma. "I mean if every girl he's ever come in contact with has thrown themselves at him, and he's never really responded to any of them how am I supposed to figure out what he finds attractive?"

"Geez, Akane, you really are thick. The answer's staring you right in the face. Think about it. Not every girl Ranma knows throws herself at him. If you really want to get his attention, all you have to do is act like y-"

Akane considered her words for a moment, her eyebrows squinting as she tried to figure out what her sister was talking about. Then suddenly, halfway through Nabiki's explanation, her face split into a huge grin of realization. "Oh I get it!"

Nabiki breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! All these crazy behaviors of yours have been driving all of us nuts! It's about time you figured out that all you need to do is act like y-"

"I know exactly who to act like!"

Nabiki threw her hands up in exasperation. "I don't think you get it," she mumbled to herself, but by then Akane had already spun around and was running towards the stairs.

"This is going to take some careful consideration though! If anyone asks, I went to bed. I need some time to plan. I'll see you in the morning Nabiki! Thanks for all your help!"

"Yeah, yeah," Nabiki sighed to herself. "Oh well, whatever she has in mind, it should be amusing to say the least…"

Time: 22:10

End of Phase 005.004, Mission Status: Failure

Commencing Phase 005.005: Flirting Tactic C

…Please take this moment to identify your nearest emergency exits. Just in case. It's going to be a bumpy ride…

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Location: Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Time: 7:20

Objective: Flirting Tactic C

Phase 005.005 Attempt 1

Ranma stuck his head out of his room and looked to both ends of the hall trying to gauge whether it was safe to venture out into the open. Akane had been acting weird all week, especially the previous evening, calling him weird names and jumping out of nowhere trying to scare him. At least that's what he assumed she had been doing. He wasn't really sure and he found he wasn't too anxious to figure it all out. He'd hoped she had gone back to acting like normal, but apparently she had not. He wanted to talk to her, work things out, but her weirdness was entirely too much for him, and it was too early to play the lottery and gamble with his chances regarding what kind of mood she would be in that morning.

So he'd come up with a plan of his own and had decided to try and get out of the house without her noticing so he could avoid her on their morning walk. He figured it would be best to avoid her as long as possible even though he was sure she'd be upset with him later for ditching her. Or not. It simply depended on her mood of the day. He sighed. Akane had been easier to deal with when her moods had been more predictable.

Seeing no one in the halls he bravely stepped out of his room and crept towards the stairs. He had made it two steps before a singsong voice rang out behind him. "Good morning Ra-n-ma!"

Ranma yelped in fear and spun around dropping into a defensive stance. "I wasn't doing nothing!" he cried. "Just going downstairs for breakfast. And I..."

He was stopped abruptly as she started giggling at him covering her mouth demurely with her hand. "You're so silly!" she said with a bright smile, leaning forward and taping him lightly on the nose in a playful manner as she passed him in the hall, pausing for him to follow. "Come on, let's go see what Kasumi fixed for breakfast!" she chirped.

"Uh... Akane? Are you feeling okay?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just uh... Don't look so good."

She stuck her lip out then and pouted dramatically. "What a thing to say," she whined. "And here I spent all morning trying to make myself look good too..."

He looked at her questioningly. She did look a bit different than usual he noticed. She was wearing the same school uniform, no change there, but her hair was slightly wavy and pinned on one side with a floral barrette and she looked as if she was wearing…

"A-Akane? Are you wearing makeup?"

She nodded and squealed sliding in closer to him, running her hands up his arms to rest on his shoulders. "You noticed! I'm so happy," she said in a high, childlike, cutesy, pouty lisp, as she giggled lightly. "So tell me, Ranma-kun," she whispered, and elongated his name in a lilting tone, her eyes raising slowly, timidly to meet his own as she continued, a light blush on her cheeks. "Do you think it makes me look more… Mature?"

"I… I… uh..."

She giggled again at his response, sending not unpleasant shivers through his body. She was on her tiptoes now, leaning in dangerously close to him, supporting her weight with the hands rested on his shoulders. So close… He looked down at her through half lidded eyes, as her own eyes fluttered shut and she tilted her chin up slightly. Soooo… Close… So close, every breath was overwhelmed by her fragrance. It was overwhelming and strong, reminding him of a medley of flowers in a bowl of potpourri or something equally potent.

It annoyed him. He hated that smell. It did not smell like Akane. It smelled like something Nabiki might wear. In fact he knew it was because he'd borrowed that particular stupid perfume from her before when he had to go on a date with Kuno. Kuno had liked it well enough, but he himself couldn't stand it. It certainly wasn't a fragrance he would have appreciated and it certainly did not belong on Akane.

He would have recognized Akane's scent anywhere. It was like daisies and some sort of fruity shampoo that he had tried unsuccessfully to find on more than one occasion while in the bathroom. She smelled sweet, and light, and understated and… Innocent.

That thought snapped his mind back to reality and he looked down at the girl pressed against him. Something wasn't right. In fact, something was very wrong. Never had Akane been that forward with him or anyone else, at least not while she was in her right mind. It was possible she was in her right mind at that particular moment, but something was making her act differently. And he wasn't about to take advantage of that fact, even if he wanted to, which he certainly didn't. After all, the girl before him wasn't the one he wanted. The girl before him was beautiful and alluring, and as much as he was hesitant to admit it, incredibly seductive. But she wasn't the sweet, bashful, innocent Akane he knew. She wasn't _his_ Akane.

Abruptly he stepped away hopping backwards towards the stairs as he laughed nervously. She stumbled forward in response as the support she had been leaning on gave way and her eyes snapped wide in bewilderment and she looked at him in confusion.

"Sorry, I uh… Gotta go!" he stated darting down the stairs abruptly.

Akane watched him dash off and then slouched her shoulders releasing a long sigh, feeling confused by his rejection. "Dangit! That didn't work either. Am I really that hideous to him? What am I doing wrong? I acted just like he does when he's trying to flirt with guys as a girl." She shivered then, as if repulsed. "Ugh! And just pretending to be like that makes my stomach crawl. I have no idea how he can stand it!"

Just then Nabiki came around the corner, took one look at her sister all dolled up and rolled her eyes. "Trying to act like Ranma?" she asked.

"How did you..."

"Oh Akane, please. You are just soooo predictable! But you'll never pull it off, might as well give up now while you still have some of your dignity intact," she stated matter-of-factly as she passed her by.

"What do you mean?" Akane asked as she chased after her.

"You're just not cut out for that tactic Akane, trust me! And I'm sure it'll never work on Ranma. Kuno, maybe, but not Ranma. Face it Akane, Ranma's just a lot better at being a girl than you are!"

"Hey, now! I'll have you know that I can be a lot more girly than Ranma! And I can flirt better too!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll believe it when I see it…"

"Fine! I'll show you, Nabiki! And Ranma too!"

Time: 7:30

Mission Status: Phase 005.005 Attempt 1: Failure

Continuing Phase 005.005

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Time: 8:10

Objective: Flirting Tactic C

Phase 005.005 Attempt 8

Ranma had not been successful in giving Akane the slip. She seemed determined to follow him around everywhere he went, and hang on his every word and laugh at every comment he made, whether it was funny or not, complimenting how witty he was. How perceptive he was. How strong he was.

It wasn't that he wasn't susceptible to flattery. He did after all have a huge ego, but he got enough of it from the other people in his life, and after a while it tended to blur into the background and become meaningless. Empty pretty little words girls would say to make him feel tender towards them. Akane was the one he could count on to tell him the truth. If he was being a jerk or acting stupid she would let him know. Only on rare occasions would she praise him and say what she really thought of him. And those moments were special, because they were few and far between, and he had to earn them. Plus, he knew they were sincere and meaningful and he treasured them all the more for that reason.

But for her to give out praise like it was a 5 yen coin suddenly cheapened it all for him. It took away from all those sincere compliments she'd given him in the past. And it wasn't normal. It made him suspicious, and incredibly uncomfortable. In the end it had caused him to miss out on part of his breakfast as he'd had to dart out of the house with Akane in tow after their fathers had caught one such comment from her. He could almost see the light flashing in their eyes, but before Mr. Tendo could break out the waterworks, and Mr. Saotome could start rambling for joy that the schools would finally be joined he'd made his escape, pulling Akane reluctantly behind him.

"You are such a pain," he grumbled to the girl he was dragging behind him in a fast paced run.

"W-What did I do Darling?" she breathed, panting lightly in the exertion from running.

"_Funny. Since when does Akane get out of breath running to school?"_

"You know perfectly well what you did! Acting all swoony in front of our fathers! What were you thinking? You know how they get carried away. It's a wonder they didn't have us married on the spot."

"Oh no, I didn't realize," Akane said thoughtfully. "I'm so sorry Darling! That was careless of me."

"Yeah, well," he mumbled, blushing slightly and looking away, his annoyance deflating as he became somewhat transfixed by her soft words and apology. He wasn't completely immune to her words after all. "Just don't try anything like that again, will ya?"

"Alright Darling. Whatever you wish. If you want to keep our relationship from our fathers a secret then we can be discrete about it!"

He almost stumbled at the sudden comment. "What do you mean, our relationship? Since when are we in a relationship?"

"Since always, Silly. We're engaged, aren't we?"

"Well yeah, but not by choice."

She gasped dramatically. "How cruel of you to tease me like that! And how could you, even while you're the one holding my hand, Darling!"

He looked down to her hand, realizing for the first time he was still holding it. He blushed furiously and let go of her hand as if it had suddenly burned him. "D-Don't go getting any weird ideas," he insisted. "It means nothing!"

She giggled slightly in response and he frowned.

"And quit calling me Darling!" he added.

"You don't like Darling?"

"No!"

"Well what should I call you then? Sweetie? Muffin? Honey?"

"Uh… Ranma?" he suggested as if it was the most obvious solution.

"Hmm, okay, Ranma-kun!" she beamed once more. He slapped a hand to his forehead, but said nothing. "R-Ranma-kun," she called again after a moment of running in silence. "We have a lot of time, do you think we can maybe slow down a bit? I'm having trouble keeping up with you, you're so fast!"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure," he said as he slowed to a walk, all the while wondering why she was having trouble keeping up with him all of a sudden. She'd always kept up well enough before. He briefly considered asking her what the deal was, but at that point almost figured it to be a waste of time. She'd been acting weird all week and he did not think she was likely to stop any time soon. He had finally decided to just wait it out and see how it ended and try not to be surprised by anything she did.

However, he failed to not be surprised as she squealed a thank you and latched onto his arm, walking alongside him, chattering on at a fast pace about inane girlish topics and ideals he'd never imagined filled her head. He merely gaped, paying little attention to anything but the feel of her warm hand curled around his arm. For a moment he stopped caring that she was acting strangely. It still put him on edge, but walking alongside her in that way was… Nice. He couldn't hear her over the pounding of his heart in his ears. She may not have been like his Akane, but she looked like her, felt like her, and she was so warm, and so close and… He swallowed roughly, and had just started to relax the tension from his body when their school came into view.

Moments later there was a shout from the front gates, and Ranma immediately tensed again, directing his attention towards the oncoming threat. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the culprit.

"Fear not, Akane Tendo, for at last having escaped from the clutches of the evil Saotome you can date with m-…" His speech was cut short as Ranma had jumped ahead of Akane and landed with both feet planted in Kuno's face. He snorted in annoyance as the Kendoist fell to the ground and glared disdainfully. "Feh. This sure gets old after a…"

"Thank you Ranma-kun!" Akane squealed running towards him, clasping her hands in front of her and staring up at him with dreamy eyes.

"Uh, sure. What for?"

"For taking care of Kuno-sempai for me. If you hadn't, I don't know what I would have…"

It was then that another cry was heard from the gate. "Look! She's here! Everyone charge!"

"Huh?" was Ranma's response to the sight of a large group of male students decked out in a random display of sports gear, and fighting armor with various objects intended for weaponry rushing towards them. "What's with these morons?" he asked.

Numerous cries of marriage proposals, date invitations and declarations of love directed at his fiancé became his answer, and his eyes narrowed into an angry scowl. "Che, I forgot. You're 'available' again, aren't you? So of course all the crazy…" he turned his disdainful glare towards Akane as annoyed jealousy began to prick at the back of his consciousness, but was surprised to find on her face in the place of an equally frustrated and determined fighting expression a terrified expression of fear and hopelessness. "Huh?"

A cry of, "Akane Tendo, I will fight my way into your heart!" followed by a barrage of similar outcries and declarations of challenge and she yelped.

"Yaah!" she cried, squinting her eyes closed and leaping behind Ranma's back, huddling behind him in fear. "Save me Ranma-kun!" she whined.

"What?" he shouted flabbergasted. "Are you kidding me right now? You're afraid of these amateurs?"

"Um-hmm," she nodded, tears in her eyes that were squeezed tightly shut.

"Oh for the love of…" he muttered as the first attacker reached them and he went into action, burying his fist in one boy's face before moving on to the next. "You really are a pain, you know that?" he continued as he whipped through the crowd, splintering wooden hockey sticks and baseball bats with his fist as he dodged flying arrows and soccer balls while kicking a sumo wrestler in the gut. "Since when did you get so weak?" he shouted, grabbing a heavy Judo wrestler by the forearm and swinging him around in a wide arc, taking five guys out in the process before tossing him carelessly towards a nearby tree. "You could at least help you know!" he growled as he continued moving through the crowd, kicking and punching, dodging and leaping, avoiding the barrage of paraphernalia flung at him with effortless ease as he continued to shout his complaints to Akane.

Despite his success and ease, the attacks kept coming, and his patience was gradually wearing thinner. "Okay, that's it!" he shouted, his voice echoing loudly across the school grounds, giving pause to all the surrounding boys rushing forward. "Listen up you jerks!" Ranma yelled, grabbing the nearest challenger, a rather large, brawny looking black belt martial artist, by the front of his gi and holding him up threateningly. "Akane is STILL my fiancé! You wanna date her, you have to defeat me first!" he yelled, sending the boy flying into the nearest stratosphere with a drop kick after he had attempted to take a swipe at Ranma.

"So who's next?" Ranma asked darkly, glaring at the surrounding would be attackers. The entire group, at least the half that was not either crumpled in a heap or trying to carefully descend from the top of a tree they had landed in all got smart and fled, leaving Ranma triumphant amidst the fallen. "Heh. Just as I thou…" His victory was cut short as he was suddenly tackled from the side and fell to the ground with an overly affectionate fiancé in his lap.

"Oh Ranma-kun! I knew you cared! You saved me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Akane cried with her arms tight around his neck.

"Uh…" he said unintelligently, his brain freezing up as he suddenly forgot how annoyed he had been with the girl mere moments before. "No… Problem?"

"_So what if she's acting weird," _he thought to himself. _"I guess this isn't… That bad…"_

His thought process was once again cut off as a bucket of water suddenly drenched the both off them. "Hey! What did you do that for?" shouted the drenched red head as she spun to the water throwing culprit while tossing water out of her eyes. She stopped short as she found herself staring at a very unhappy looking purple haired Amazon and an equally annoyed okonomikyaki chef.

"Ranchan…" Ukyo growled through clenched teeth.

"What husband think doing with Akane?"

"Now wait a minute!" Ranma defended. "This isn't what it looks like!" he insisted.

Akane took a moment to blink water from her eyes, finding herself on the opposite end of a water attack, which she wasn't too familiar with. She found she didn't care for the experience too much, and recognized it would probably be a lot worse if she had a Jusenkyo curse herself. _"Speaking of curses…"_ She glanced to the 'girl' whose lap she was still sitting in, thought about the circumstance briefly then shrugged. It was still Ranma, and most everyone knew that. With that in mind she continued where she had left off, tightening her arms around her fiancé once more before looking defiantly up at the other two girls.

"Urk!" Ranma gulped, having the air rushed out of him by Akane's embrace, mere seconds after finishing his proclamation that the situation wasn't what it seemed.

"Do you mind?" Akane spat at the other two girls. "We're having a moment here, can't you see?"

The girls' jaws practically dropped to the ground and Ranma looked at Akane nervously, but it was Kuno that reappeared and reacted first.

"No! You mustn't fair ones! To be so lonesome for my love that you turn to each other in your times of…"

"Oh butt out!" Ranma yelped, jumping to his feet and kicking Kuno into the stratosphere after the other unnamed martial artist. "What a jerk," he grumbled turning towards the school only to find two of his angry fiancés blocking his path.

"Ranchan…" Ukyo growled.

"Husband explain self."

"What's this about Akane still being your fiancé and you two being all friendly?"

"A-heh, what do you mean? I didn't do nothing, it's all a misunderstanding you see! No need to be jealous."

"It's hard to believe what you're saying when you're going on like that."

"Shampoo agree."

"Going on like…" he trailed off, noticing for the first that Akane had her arms around his neck from behind, draping onto him like a cape. He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder and she grinned back.

"Hi!" Akane said.

"Uh… Hi?" Ranma responded. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to say thank you Ranma-kun!" Akane giggled.

"Ranma-kun?" Shampoo and Ukyo echoed dangerously.

"A-heh. Um… Oops?"

Akane winced slightly watching as the two other girls began to attack Ranma furiously. There was something oddly familiar about the scene, but she couldn't quite put her finger on how. The school bell rang and with a shrug and little care for the situation she skipped past the trio towards the front steps.

"Ranma-kun, I'm going on ahead. I'll take notes for you okay? Don't play for too long," she called.

"Akane!" he yelled. "OW! Hey! Akane! Don't just leave me here! This is your fault! YOW! Hey! Akane!"

Time: 8:30

End of Phase 005.005 – Attempt 8-12

Continuing with Phase 005.005

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Time: 12:10

Subject: Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: '…'

A bruised and battered Ranma ate his lunch with an eerie calm, an intimidating aura of anger radiating around him. Hiroshi and Daisuke regarded him cautiously for a moment before nodding to each other for reassurance and then venturing forward.

"H-Hey Ranma, how's it going?" Hiroshi asked.

"Peachy," Ranma said through clenched teeth. "Just peachy…"

"So uh… What's up with this thing about Akane and you calling off the engagement?" Daisuke asked.

Ranma's eyes flashed in response and he glared daggers at them. They both yelped and took a step backwards. "Haha, never mind, forget I asked!" Daisuke apologized.

"She uh… Seems… Different today though," Hiroshi commented thoughtfully.

Ranma put aside his stoic indifference long enough to sigh bitterly and glance over at the short haired girl giggling amongst her friends. The little stunt she'd pulled that morning had caused him to get stomped on mercilessly by Shampoo and Ukyo and he had missed the entire first period class as a result. She had at least taken notes for him as promised, and much to his confusion and disgust they had been written carefully and accurately with impeccable handwriting, complete with little hearts and squiggly lines in the margins. Needless to say he wasn't going to be caught dead using them. It made him shudder. Even worse, later in the morning during their literature class they'd had to work on their stupid assignment once more, and the annoying girl seemed to have no trouble coming up with flowery overblown proclamations of love, while he could think of practically nothing to respond. The little he had come up with had caused her to grin like a maniac and blush furiously despite his adamant protests that it was just an assignment. Then at lunch she'd tried to feed him. He'd protested in embarrassment and Ukyo had protested by slapping him with her spatula, adding to the numerous injuries he'd already acquired prior to the start of classes and rendering him momentarily unconscious. When he'd come to, both girls were on opposite ends of the room, Ukyo glaring daggers at him and Akane sending cutesy giggles and waves in his direction. As if on cue to his thought, she looked over, noticed him and blew a kiss before waving erratically.

He whipped his head away in irritation and scoffed. "Yeah," he grunted. "Different indeed," he growled in distaste.

"Yeah," Hiroshi echoed. "Never thought she could actually get any cuter."

"Cute?" Ranma choked on the word and the rice he had just inhaled. "What about that girl is cute?"

"You're kidding right?" Daisuke asked. "The cutest girl in school is practically falling all over you and you just sit here completely unaffected?"

"Yeah well," Ranma reddened. "I just wish she'd go back to acting like normal."

"You're kidding right?"

"No!" he fumed. "Why'd she have to change anyway? What was wrong with the old Akane?" he mumbled under his breath.

"Well, let's see. In the words of Ranma Saotome, she was an uncute, unsexy, violent, ill-tempered tomboy…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright I get your point. Still…" he sighed looking forlornly back at his fiancé that he barely recognized. _"She was my uncute, unsexy, violent, ill-tempered tomboy. And I miss her…"_

Time: 12:15

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Time: 16:25

Location: Tendo Dojo, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target: Subject 002: Tendo Nabiki

Objective: Back to the Drawing Board, AKA Strategizing

Phase 005.006

(Phase 005.005 Attempts 12-57 have produced minimal results)

"…and then he just ignored me all through lunch! _And_ through classes, _and_ gym. And after school when I tried to catch up to him he just bolted and I haven't seen him since! It's like he's avoiding me, although I can't really figure out why. I did everything I was supposed to do!" Akane whined as she bounced around the dojo, dodging, ducking and hopping over whatever attacks her older sister threw her way without paying much attention. "It doesn't make sense! He's always complaining about how uncute I am and how he's so much sexier than me when he's a girl and much better at flirting. But then I go and act like him and he wants nothing to do with me! Where's the logic in that?" She stopped moving for a moment and paused in her words, as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Maybe he really doesn't have any interest in me after all," she muttered numbly, frozen into place.

Nabiki for her part was doing her best to ignore Akane's ramblings and uninhibited charged Akane with a flying kick aimed at her ribcage. Akane, still dazed merely leaned to the side slightly, causing Nabiki to miss her target. She somehow managed to land successfully, but still had to flail her arms around rather ungracefully in order to remain upright. She fumed rather darkly. She knew she was out of her element, and Nabiki Tendo _hated _being out of her element. With renewed determination, she turned back with a menacing look directed at her sister, who unaware merely sighed mournfully once again before continuing on her tirade.

"I could have sworn he felt something for me, but maybe it was just pity after all. Maybe friendship, I don't know. Obviously it's not love. I mean all day I was nice to him, I flirted with him… Ugh, boy did I ever flirt with him!" she said rolling her eyes while simultaneously blocking a round house, an uppercut, a leg sweep and jab combo attack. "And it got me no where!" Akane whined.

Nabiki backed up, maintaining her stance and merely glared at her younger sister through narrowed eyes. It wasn't that she really minded her sister's ramblings, but the fact that she did it all while effortlessly avoiding her best attempts at an assault was more than a little bit aggravating. She circled the shorter girl, trying to stamp down her growing agitation, as she carefully plotted out her next move and strived to maintain her well practiced calm that she felt slipping through her fingers.

"Maybe I should just give up," Akane sniffed. "I mean how can I possibly compete with the other girls? Maybe if I was more beautiful like Shampoo, or a better cook like Ukyo, or more graceful like Kodachi…" she sighed while simultaneously leaping over Nabiki's perfectly executed high kick and flipping over her head to land on her feet smoothly behind her. Nabiki spun with her arm out to smack Akane, and Akane merely ducked below the swipe, not bothering to take note of the frustrated expression on her sister's face. "Or maybe if I was really smart like you, Sis," Akane continued, obliviously.

"That's it!" Nabiki snapped storming over to the doors, her patience effectively destroyed. "I'm done with this!" she yelled. She hated feeling so angry. She remembered now that it was one of the main reasons she quit Martial Arts in the first place. There was nothing in the world that could irritate her as much as losing did, and fighting with Akane had always been a lesson in losing.

"W-What do you mean Nabiki? We still have another half hour of practice."

"Practice? You call this practice?" Nabiki yelled, spinning back to face Akane once more, unable to reel in her emotions for once.

Akane looked puzzled. "Well… Yeah… We're sparring. What's the problem?"

"You're the problem! You call this sparring? All you've done the last half hour is bounce around absent mindedly while whining about how Ranma doesn't love you and the fact that you don't think you can compare to his other fiancés. Which by the way is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Wishing you could be like them. Wishing you could be like me? Ha! Don't you get it? Every girl wants to be like you! Even them, because you _are_ the one that Ranma loves. They'd give anything to have him look at them the way he looks at you, and I would give anything to be as 'beautiful' and 'graceful' as you, and possess even half of your talent for… This!" she finished gesturing erratically at the dojo.

Akane blinked in surprise and confusion at her sister's outburst. "N-Nabiki… Wh-What are you talking about?"

Nabiki deflated abruptly and bit her tongue wishing she could take back her words. It had been brewing for ten years, a long standing accumulation of frustrations that she had held back for far too long behind a dam built of an icy wall, and she had just unleashed it all quite unceremoniously on her younger sister out of the clear blue. She felt ashamed, and like a failure. It was unlike her to lose the calm demeanor she'd always prided herself on maintaining. But there had been something about this whole 'plan' Akane had concocted, and Nabiki found her own involvement, especially in regards to being trained in Martial Arts again had reopened quite a few old wounds that she had tried so hard to cover up. She sighed looking at her sister's confused expression. "Sorry, Akane, I just… Forget it, it's nothing…"

"No!" Akane insisted. "What do you mean by my… Talent? You mean for Martial Arts? I thought you didn't really care about this…"

"Yeah well…" Nabiki sighed again and merely shrugged, realizing she wouldn't be able to escape the conversation now that it was out in the open. "I did. Care about this. For a while at least. I thought… You know, that I would be the one to take on the dojo. Kasumi was always far too docile and never really seemed to take to Martial Arts. Plus she was Mommy's little girl. But Daddy always seemed so pleased with me whenever I mastered any new techniques, and would always call me his little prodigy. Until you came along and started training. For a while it was no big deal, and I even trained you for a bit. But you learned everything so much faster and pretty soon you were beating me in sparring matches, and Daddy was always wanting to train you and calling you his little prodigy instead." She paused and swallowed hard. "Then we lost Mom, and I realized just how much I hated to… Lose."

She hung her head sadly, feeling ashamed at her vulnerable admission. It was unlike her to break down and admit to something like that. But it had always been true. Her sister had grown up just behind her and eclipsed her in everything. She had stolen Nabiki's dream of running the dojo and taken her father's affection and pride away from her. Even in high school she'd come along, a year behind and gained a great deal of attention from the student body for being so attractive, and smart, and athletic. She was so stunning that even Kuno, Nabiki's old friend that no longer gave her more than a passing glance had been taken with her quite obsessively. And Akane didn't even care. In fact she hated his attentions. She didn't care for her popularity. She didn't notice the skills she had at Martial Arts and everything else and always judged herself by those who were better. And she, the girl that everyone at school wanted to be like, was trying desperately to be like someone else. Somehow it was too much for Nabiki. It maddened her and irritated her like nothing else. Most importantly, it wasn't fair…

However, Nabiki was brought out of those thoughts quite abruptly as Akane stepped up beside her and tentatively rested her hand on her shoulder. "Na-Nabiki?"

Nabiki reluctantly turned to look at her with blank eyes. Akane looked back at her with concern. "I-I didn't realize," she whispered softly. "I-I'm so sorry…"

Nabiki's eyes widened and her expression broke with surprise and then anguish as she stared back at the genuine remorse in her sister's eyes. She'd never said anything because she knew there was nothing Akane could do about it. But somehow, those simple, soft words meant more to her than she possibly ever imagined they could. It shouldn't have been that easy… And yet… It was…

"And Nabiki…" Akane started somewhat hesitantly. She wanted to say the right thing without sounding like she was pitying her older sister. Somehow she knew that would not go over well. "It's not true, by the way. I mean, you do have so much going for you. I mean you are beautiful, and graceful. Geez I mean yeah I do okay with Martial Arts but I'm a major klutz with anything else. Although I like to think I'm getting better. But you're always so poised and professional and confident with everything else. I mean, I wish I could be like…" She caught Nabiki's sudden warning glance and quickly corrected her statement. "Sorry! I uh, mean… I admire that about you. I mean you really are so clever and cunning and quick witted and… Well, you're scary as heck…" Nabiki snickered at that and Akane grinned back at her. "But otherwise I think you're pretty cool, and I think a lot of people respect you and look up to you."

"And as for the Martial Arts… Again, I'm sorry really. I didn't realize it meant that much to you. I guess I have been pretty insensitive with the way I've been training you too, all things considered. I didn't know. It's just I don't really know what I'm doing. I've never trained anyone before so I was just acting like Ranma does whenever he spars with me and I…" She trailed off as a thought occurred to her. She hated how Ranma sparred with her. He never took her seriously nand always bounced around acting as if she posed no potential challenge to him at all and… "Ooooh!" Akane groaned smacking a hand to her forehead in sudden realization. "I am such an idiot! Yeah, sorry, Nabiki. I have been a jerk. I'm sooo sorry. Believe me, I know just how you feel."

Nabiki smirked, glad that her sister was suddenly seeing things from her point of view. "It's okay I guess," she said crossing her arms over her chest. "After all, it's not like you haven't been holding up your end of the deal. You have been training me, although quite rudely. Just don't let it happen again."

"I won't! I promise. I'll do better, I swear, if you still want to continue I mean. And I meant what I said before by the way. You are really good at this. I just wish you hadn't quit so long ago. It would've been nice if we had been able to continue training together. And you're learning everything so fast now! Geez, like that high kick combination I taught you yesterday? That took me weeks to perfect! But you got it in no time. Must be all that yoga you've been doing the last few years. I wish I was that limber…" she continued to ramble.

Nabiki merely smiled and cut her sister off. "Akane?"

"Yeah?" Akane asked.

"I think this is the part where you're supposed to shut up and we hug or something."

Akane grinned and stepped forward to hug her older sister briefly.

"Hey Nabiki?" Akane asked after a moment, looking up at her sister while they hugged.

"Yeah Akane?"

"You never said anything about wanting to cook as well as me," Akane pouted lightly.

Nabiki started to laugh soundly and stepped away from her sister finally who merely grinned back at her. "Yeah, that's because no one envies your cooking."

Akane rolled her eyes, her grin seeming somewhat more forced. "Yeah, I know, I really am hopeless," she muttered sadly.

"Oh geez, Akane, don't start in on that again. I mean so what if you can't cook? I swear, if there's one thing I really can't stand about Saotome it's the fact that he's given you this horrible self esteem complex with all his taunting and insults. It's annoying and ridiculous! Honestly Akane, you _need_ to be more confident. The thing is…" she quickly altered her comment and took a deep breath, rolling her eyes briefly before continuing. "Ugh, I hate to say this because it sounds so lame and cliché… But the thing is… You're really great. You've got so much going for you. And if Ranma doesn't see all of those things in you, and if he doesn't love you for who you are then he really is an idiot and he doesn't deserve to be with you anyway."

Akane blushed lightly and smiled up at her sister. "Thanks Nabiki," she said, slightly embarrassed and awed by her words.

"So will you _please_ stop acting like somebody else and just go back to being Akane again? Enough with this whole act, alright?"

Akane smiled deeper and nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll try."

"Good. Oh, and one more thing. You tell anyone I said any of this mushy 'be yourself, if he doesn't love you he doesn't deserve you' junk and I swear I will make you pay! Literally!"

"Okay, okay," Akane giggled lightly raising her hands in a warding gesture. "I get it."

"Good. Now enough of this. Would you mind running through that kata from before with me once again?"

"Nope," Akane said shaking her head sternly. "No more kata. I think it's time we had a _real_ sparring session." She grinned then and Nabiki smiled back, although she had to admit, she was a little worried about what she might be getting herself into.

Time: 16:45

Phase 005.005: Terminated

Phase 005.006: Complete

Commencing Phase 006.001

Objective: Act Natural (Take 2)

…End Transmission…

* * *

Author's notes: Yay! Done with Chapter 5! Thank goodness! So okay, that's the good news. The bad news is I still have one more chapter to go before this whole tangent is finished, but I PROMISE the next chapter will be the last, and it will be up very soon. The next chapter is just going to focus on getting everything back to normal before I start in on the original 'Mission Impossible' storyline. Chapter 6 was originally part of this chapter, but this chapter was already too long (12,000 words, yikes!) so I figured I should break it up. But the next chapter is mostly complete, and it has more cute Ranma and Akane moments that I'm sure everyone will appreciate.

I am very sorry for the delay in this chapter coming out, and for the fact that before updating it I wrote several little random oneshots. However to be fair, all of my oneshots have gotten a lot more reviews than any single chapter from this story (hint hint, nudge nudge). Anyway, this chapter was just really frustrating me, and I couldn't get things ironed out to my liking, and even now I have to say I'm not completely satisfied with the final product. This chapter, though slightly funny, is completely pointless in my opinion. And I felt as if everyone acted a bit out of character. I mean you can excuse Akane, because she was supposed to be out of character (although her reasoning for being out of character is a little out of character), but what in the world is up with Nabiki? Ugh! That last scene between them is like something out of The Babysitters Club. That is simply not how the younger Tendo sisters are supposed to act! The thing is though, I want to believe there's more to Nabiki than a selfish money obsessed self centered middle child. Maybe there isn't. Maybe that's all she was ever meant to be, but I for one like to think there's a reason why she acts the way she does. Ultimately we don't really know what goes on in her head and what her true motivations are. But that creates a bit of a dilemma because if I'm going to write more depth to her I have to make assumptions regarding her intentions and thoughts, and take her in new directions. So I don't know, I guess it's not that bad. But then there's Nodoka. I mean what exactly do you do with her? There's really only one story that she appears in after discovering that Ranko is really Ranma, and in that story she doesn't live with the Tendos, and really seems more interested in fixing Ranma's relationship with Akane than getting to know her son. That and freaking out whenever she finds him in female clothing, etc. Lol. Ah I do love that story. But yeah, then she moves in with the Tendos and we hardly ever see her again, except for when she pops up occasionally making comments about how her son looks so manly. Eesh. Is that seriously all she cares about? But here's the other question. Where does she stay? Does she sleep in the same room with Ranma and Genma? That would be awkward. Or does she get her own room? Or does Ranma get his old room to himself and does Genma move into a room with Nodoka? We don't know! So I guess that means it's up to the interpretation of the fanfiction author, which is not a situation I'm really comfortable with. Oh well…

As for Akane, it was weird how hard it was to write her scenes. I mean, I think I do a fairly good job writing Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi in character, so I tried to just imagine I was writing them into the scenes, but there were complications. After all, I didn't want Akane to go over the top and start talking in broken grammar like Shampoo or calling Ranma Ranchan like Ukyo or laughing like Kodachi. That would just be a little too obvious, and I think if she did that even Ranma would figure out what her game was. So this ultimately ended up being harder than I thought it would be. And then there was the situation with Akane acting like Ranma when he was acting like a girl. I realize now with all 23 of my stories (yes I have 23, go check them out!) I have never written anything where Ranma acts like a girl. Huh. Interesting. So that was a first, except I guess I wasn't really writing about Ranma acting like a girl. I was writing about Akane acting like him acting like a girl. Yeesh. I should really learn to walk before running.

Anyway, enough of me complaining about this whole mess. Hopefully you guys all enjoyed it more than I did. And if you did, please consider reviewing. It might cheer me up! I've really enjoyed reading the ones I've already received. I especially liked that a few of you commented about the mission format I've set up for the chapters. That's good to hear because I was considering doing away with it, but now that I know you are appreciating it I will keep it there! It is kind of fun.

Also, I have a deviant art account now (Link listed in my profile), and I have uploaded a picture which is from the final chapter of Mission Impossible. It's not much of a spoiler and I'm not much of an artist, but if you're interested you might want to check it out. I also have quite a few other pictures up there, mostly for my next generation of Ranma story, Eighteen Years. And I have a poll going on right now where you can vote for your favorite story in progress of mine. I try and give priority to the ones that are the most popular, and Mission Impossible is an option! The previous poll regarding which characters Nabiki and Akane should try and set up first has been completed. Ryoga was by far the most popular, which works out perfectly for me, so we'll try and get him setup first.

Coming soon - MI006: Act Natural (Take 2)

Thanks for reading, please review and let me know your thoughts!

~ C ~

- Edit – I accidentally omitted a really good segment from this chapter and didn't discover it until after I had posted the chapter. By then it was too late to add, so I just made the segment into its own oneshot. Check it out, it's called 'The Trouble With Hugging Girls.' Also, when I originally posted this chapter I had a temporary idea to rename the story including chapters 1-6 MI000: The Setup and have it be a prequel to Mission Impossible. However, as I started writing chapter 6 I realized I was actually tying things together a lot better than I had originally thought I would be able to, so my idea to split the stories up was nixed. I apologize for my momentary insanity. Thank you for all your kind reviews. They have really inspired me to feel more satisfied with this story and this chapter, and now I am feeling much less discouraged and frustrated, a fact that has also influenced my decision to rejoin the stories. So thank you all! And btw, MI006 is coming together quite nicely and should hopefully be wrapped up by the end of the week. It is by far my favorite chapter to date in regards to cute Ranma/Akane scenes, so I do hope you enjoy it! See you soon!


	6. MI006 Act Natural Take 2

Chapter 6: Act Natural (Take 2)

_~ Sometimes you make me cry, and sometimes you make me smile,_

_But I can't deny, what I feel insi-ide!_

_And deep down I've always known, all the feelings you don't show,_

_They're within your eyes, that's how I know you're mi-ine!~_

_~You made your way into my heart, after I said you don't belong!_

_Yeah, I know we scream and shout, and never seem to get along,_

_Oh well, I think it's alright, I think it's okay._

_Who said that we had to fall in love the ordinary way?_

_And if things don't turn out right, then we'll just try it again,_

_Until then let's keep on, keep on, not getting along...~_

* * *

…Begin Transmission…

File: MI006

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Time: 19:30

Location: Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Damage Control

Phase 006.001

A very thorough training session, a long conversation with Nabiki and a warm bath had finally put things into perspective for Akane, and she was finally starting to feel like herself again. And she had to admit, that felt good. Still, she couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive as she timidly made her way down the stairs for dinner, feeling rather meek and unsure of herself. The more she thought about how she'd acted throughout the week, and more specifically how she had acted that day, the more foolish she felt. She realized she was very afraid to face Ranma and had been secretly glad that he'd been avoiding her as well. But there wasn't any way he would go so far as to skip dinner to get away from her, and that meant the time to face him had finally come.

She rounded the corner and immediately locked eyes with the object of her thoughts. He responded by pausing from shoveling rice into his mouth momentarily before purposefully looking away. Akane sighed silently and made her way to the only available seat that inevitably was right next to him. He not-so-subtly scooted as far away from her as possible and she again sighed, picking up her chopsticks and staring forlornly into her bowl of miso soup.

"Aren't you going to eat, Akane?" Kasumi asked in her concerned, motherly tone.

"Yes Dear," Nodoka added. "Your food's getting cold."

"I uh, guess I'm not that hungry," she said in a weak tone. "I had a big lunch."

Ranma raised an eyebrow at the comment and glanced at her sideways, just as Genma reached across the table for Akane's fish. "Well if you're not going to eat it then…"

His progress was halted as Ranma parried his father's chopsticks with his own. "Eat your own food, Old Man," he grunted.

Genma jumped to his feet in response, pointing furiously at his son. "Ranma, you ungrateful little…"

"Genma-Dear, please sit down," Nodoka said firmly. "And if you don't mind, could you please refrain from fighting with our son at the dinner table?"

Genma hung his head and sighed. "Yes Dear," he mumbled meekly, as he reclaimed his seat and bitterly began to munch on the remains of his own fish. Akane had noted that the relationship Genma and Nodoka shared had grown a little tenser than usual over the last few weeks, but she had little time to stew on those thoughts as she instead turned her head towards her fiancé and smiled at him gratefully.

"Thank you Ranma," she whispered.

"Don't mention it," he responded between bites without looking up. It was a small gesture, but regardless it gave Akane cause to hope that they were once again heading in the right direction. No longer feeling as apprehensive she began to pick apart her fish with her chopsticks and started to eat.

"So Akane, are you and Ranma all ready for your last day of school tomorrow?" Kasumi asked conversationally.

"For the most part, yeah. There's just one more assignment for Literature class we need to finish up." She noticed Ranma shudder out of the corner of her eye and grinned. The assignment had been a bit of a pain for the both of them, but she felt as if it was coming along nicely enough.

"Oh my! Will you have time to finish it up tonight?"

Akane shrugged. "Actually the teacher's going to give us all some more time in class tomorrow so we can just as easily finish it up then." She could tell Ranma had breathed a thankful sigh of relief and again found herself smiling at being able to read his slight reactions so well.

"Oh that's nice then. It must be nice to not have any homework left. Do you have any plans for the evening?"

Again Ranma tensed and she could tell that he was remembering at the same time their agreement from earlier that week. _"Oh of course!" _she thought excitedly. _"The movie! This is perfect! I'll get to spend some time with him and hopefully show him that I'm back to acting like myself again!" _She felt as if Ranma was waiting to hear her response, and she then recalled that she had never actually agreed to his invitation to watch the movie. He probably was unsure of her intentions, and for that matter, after everything that had happened she wasn't even sure that he still wanted to watch the movie with her. She looked at him for some kind of sign but he had recovered and gave away nothing as he was quickly finishing off the last of his rice. _"I guess it's up to me then…"_

"Actually, there's some kind of movie marathon on tonight that Ra-"

"Thanks for the meal," Ranma said suddenly cutting her off as he placed his bowl down and stood. "I just remembered something I have to do. Be back later," he said leaving the room without as much as a fleeting look in Akane's direction.

Ranma's random comings and goings were common place enough and no one seemed to pay much heed to his departure, save for Akane who watched him go, feeling as if the world had fallen from beneath her. Sadly she looked back at her plate and sighed wondering where her appetite had disappeared to again.

"You were saying, Akane?" Kasumi asked cheerfully, unaware of her younger sister's feelings of disappointment. "You have big plans tonight?"

Akane snapped her attention back to Kasumi and forced a smile. "Oh no… I… Guess it's nothing important after all…"

Time: 19:45

Phase 006.001, Mission Status: Incomplete

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Time: 21:55

Location: Tea Room, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Waiting…

Phase 006.002

Akane sat huddled up in front of the television, staring anxiously at the clock and blankly gazing at the actual screen only briefly from time to time to keep up appearances in case someone happened to walk by and see her. Her eyes darted hopefully to the hallway when she heard someone approaching but her face fell in disappointment when she saw who it was.

"Akane?" Kasumi asked surprised to find her younger sister in the empty tea room. "You're still watching television? It's late. Shouldn't you be getting to bed? Tomorrow's the last day of school…"

"I know," Akane answered hesitantly chewing her lower lip in indecisiveness. "I uh, just wanted to… See about something." Her head drooped then as she was overwhelmed by a pitiful feeling that would be completely lost on her older sister. "Don't worry Kasumi, I'll go to bed soon."

"Alright, if you say so Akane," Kasumi said in an unsure voice as she rounded the corner and headed for the stairway.

Akane sighed heavily as her sister disappeared and drew her knees up and draped her arms around them with her chin resting a top. Her eyes drifted to the clock yet again. It was almost time for the movie to start, and Ranma still hadn't returned home. "I guess he must've changed his mind. Or he forgot…" she frowned, trying to decide which of those possibilities she liked the least. "Either way, it must not have been that important to him to begin with…" she thought, falling back on past insecurities and overwhelming feelings of doubt.

"It's my own fault. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Even if he was interested in me for a split second, after this week I'm sure he's changed his mind. I must've really acted like an idiot after all, and ruined my chances," she muttered, fighting back tears. "Or maybe he's still mad about Nabiki's flyer? I should've just told him the truth from the start! How did I mess things up so badly? All I wanted was for all of our problems to go away, and for him to like me, but now…" she trailed off lightly and stared at the television monitor with unfocused eyes until the colors began to blur together through the lenses of unshed tears.

The movie she had been pretending to watch had just ended and the opening credits began to roll for 'King Kong vs. Godzilla.' She wasn't about to watch the movie alone after they'd agreed to watch it together. It was just too much. She lunged forward and was about to switch off the TV when the shoji door leading inside from the yard opened swiftly, and Ranma shuffled inside. She stared at him, unsure of what to do or say, and he looked back at her sheepishly for a moment before fixing his eyes on the TV and trudging over to plop down next to her.

"The minute you call me some stupid name or try and grab me I am so out of here," he grumbled to her.

"R-Ranma…" she blinked, still slightly stunned but relieved that he had come back after all. Before she could continue he began rifling through a plastic bag he had brought with him.

"Sorry I'm late," he mumbled, tossing her a bag of popcorn. "I uh, figured I'd get some snacks, but the vending machine down the street was out of practically everything, so I had to go to the convenience store, and there was a line, and then Mousse showed up yelling about something or other and… Well… It doesn't really matter what happened. I'm here now, so…" he trailed off before fixing his eyes on the television again with a blush.

"I… I wasn't sure you'd come… I mean after today, and, well…"

"Yeah, well, like I said I'm here," he responded a little more gruffly than he had intended. The whole situation was just a little too awkward for his liking.

"So… So then does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?" she asked hopefully.

The sad tone of her voice was enough to break his exterior fully and he turned to her incredulously. "Mad at yo… You thought I was mad? What did I have to be mad about?"

"I-I don't know. I figured, maybe because last night, with the flyer and everything and…"

"Well yeah, I was mad about that at first, but then I got your note," he said pulling out the dreaded flyer from his pocket and tossing it disdainfully on the tatami in front of them. "I should've known all along you didn't write it. I actually felt kind of stupid for thinking it was you in the first place."

"B-But if you knew, then why…"

"Geez Akane, isn't it obvious? You've been acting like a psycho all day! Scratch that. You've been acting psycho all week!"

"Psycho! I was just trying to… to…" she trailed off and turned away a blush staining her cheeks. She didn't feel like she could tell him.

His eyes narrowed and he reached out, grabbing her chin between his fingers and tilting her face back to look at him. "Trying to what?" he asked firmly.

She continued to avoid looking at him and took a reluctant breath. "It's… Complicated…"

"Yeah, well, this movie isn't so it's not like you'll have to compete for my attention."

She half smiled at the comment. She swallowed roughly and opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally starting an explanation. "I just… I…" She took a deep breath. "I wanted you to like me again is all," she said swiftly and then immediately jerked away from him, too embarrassed to face him. Suddenly the words came tumbling out of her mouth rapidly, unchecked.

"I mean we're always fighting, and you've said it yourself a million times that I'm un-cute, and unfeminine and violent, and I'm sure there's a number of girls you find more… Well… Something, I don't know. So I just thought that maybe if I tried to act more like Ukyo, or Shampoo or well… You when you're pretending to be a girl…"

His face scrunched up in distaste for a moment, and then gave way to a sudden burst of uncontrolled laughter.

"Me? You were trying to act like… A-Hahaha! You actually thought… Haha… That I would… Oh man, that is hilarious!" he rambled through fits of laughter.

"Ranma!" Akane growled indignantly.

"I guess it's true what I've been saying all along. I really am a better girl than you!" he said, still laughing. "You really are a tomboy, aren't you?"

"And you really are a jerk!" Akane shouted.

"I'm sorry!" he said, wiping tears from his eyes and pushing back the last of his laughter. "It's just so ridiculous! Why would you want to do that anyway?"

She sniffed and turned her nose up. "It seemed like a good enough idea at the time!" she said defensively. "I mean you're a guy, and being a guy you know what guys like. So I figured you'd know what a guy likes in a girl, and if I acted like you act…"

"Yeah, but I only act girly to manipulate guys. I learned everything I know from Nabiki!"

"N-Nabiki? So wait, all this time, I've been acting like Nabiki!"

"Well yeah, short of the trying to take money from everyone, pretty much!"

Akane threw up her hands in frustration. It wasn't that the humor of the situation was entirely lost on her, but she really wasn't in the mood to laugh at herself. "I give up then. I just don't know how to act anymore."

"What do you mean, don't know how to act?" Ranma asked, her statement peaking his interest and breaking him out of his mirth.

"I'm… Confused," she began. "Ever since… Well… I guess I just don't know how to act around you anymore," she grumbled crossing her arms over her chest with an angry pout. "I just don't know what you like," she finished in a quieter voice.

"Yes you do, Akane," Ranma said reassuringly. She looked up at him again, an expectant, hopeful gleam shimmering in her eyes. There was a slight agonizing pause before he smiled back at her. "Akane," he said gently. "You are the most frustrating, ditzy, klutzy chick I have ever known…"

"Hey!" Akane sputtered indignantly.

"But," Ranma continued pointedly cutting her off. "I wouldn't change a thing about you if I could."

She blinked, surprised. "R-Really?" she asked.

"Really," he smiled back at her. "I mean, yeah, we fight, and it's true you're kind of violent and a tomboy…"

"You flatterer you," she said in a flat sarcastic tone.

He smiled wryly in response. "Ah but who cares if we don't always get along? I'm a jerk, and an idiot sometimes, just like you say. And you really are a pain at times, but we always figure it out, don't we? I mean, I don't mind so much, how things are between us. Do… Do you?"

She smiled softly. It made sense. All this time she had been trying to be something she wasn't, so that they could have a better relationship. But she realized in that moment, that Ranma was right. She liked their relationship as it was. That didn't mean she didn't want to move forward with it as well, but there was no reason to carve out all of the bad at once. It would take away too much of what made things work for them. Calling each other on it when they got out of line… It's not like either of them were wilting flowers, easily brought down by the casual insults of another. In their case it kept things interesting, and honest. Besides, she figured you never really knew someone until you had a fight with them. Following that logic she knew Ranma _very_ well. "No," she finally answered. "I don't mind at all."

"Good," Ranma said, casually settling back to face the movie once again. "Cause I was kind of starting to miss the old bossy, indecisive ill tempered violent tomboy you usually are."

"Oh Ranma, that's such a sweet thing to say," she grinned before picking up a cushion off the floor and bashing him over the head with it while yelling at him in a not so unfriendly tone. "But do you have to be such a jerk about it?"

"Ow, hey, I'm just telling it like it is! You're still a violent tomboy," he said, his tone more teasing than insulting.

"Honestly! You're such an insensitive jerk," she responded, also in jest.

"Uncute," he muttered under his breath.

"Idiot," she responded in turn.

That said, they both smiled and settled back to watch their movie, both feeling relief that things had finally returned to normal.

Time: 22:15

Phase 006.002, Mission Status: Complete

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Time: 22:50

Location: Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 002: Tendo Nabiki

Target: Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Mission Briefing

Phase 006.003

Nabiki couldn't help feeling a little concerned as she made her way towards her home. As was her usual routine of the week she had gone out shortly after her training session with Akane and had spent her evening making arrangements, conducting meetings, gathering information and plotting out her grand matchmaking scheme. It was coming along nicely, as was her side project thanks to the help of her partner, another newly acquired and unlikely ally.

Unfortunately Nabiki was rather discouraged that despite her best efforts, it was looking like Akane would need to play a more crucial role in the matchmaking schemes than Nabiki had originally intended. She'd wanted to keep her out of it as much as possible. Akane just didn't have it in her to pull off such tactics. She was too honest, too trusting, too… Nice. And she had too much to lose. Nabiki wasn't sure Akane would go for what she had in mind, and even if she did…

Nabiki sighed, as she made her way into the house. Things had been tense between Akane and Ranma all week. She couldn't deny that she was partially to blame for that, but the fact remained, if their relationship had been going downhill due to Akane's minor antics, Nabiki doubted it would survive the month once the matchmaking plan went into full effect. But Nabiki saw no other way to fulfill their objective. It would have to be done…

"Hey Akane, you still up?" Nabiki asked, hearing the TV on in the tea room. "I really need to talk to you about…" she trailed off as she rounded the corner, and her feelings of trepidation suddenly intensified as she took in the scene before her. It was a most unusual and happy, peaceful scene. Ranma and Akane were sitting in front of the television, munching on snacks and laughing. Apparently they had finally worked things out, and looked more content than she had seen either of them in a long, long time, a fact that pulled quite painfully at Nabiki's heartstrings. She didn't want to be the one responsible for tearing them apart… Again.

Akane turned to face her sister, and despite her polite, serene smile, Nabiki couldn't help but feel like she was imposing.

"Yeah, Nabiki what's up?" Akane asked, munching on a piece of pocky casually.

The feelings of guilt and reluctance intensified as she continued staring at the couple, looking so happy for once. Nabiki shook her head, deciding it would be best to leave them alone to enjoy their moment while they still could. What she had to say would just have to wait.

"Never mind Akane," Nabiki said slowly, pushing her uneasy feelings aside. "It can wait. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay!" Akane said with a big grin before turning back to the television. "What I miss?" she asked conversationally to Ranma.

"Um," Ranma mumbled casually. "They destroyed some more stuff."

Akane giggled and threw a handful of popcorn at him. "Dummy," she chided, earning a view of his tongue sticking out at her before they went back to their snacks and movie.

Nabiki continued to watch them for a brief moment, before turning aside with a sigh and heading for the stairs. Her plans would just have to be put on hold. But time was running out. If they were going to act, they had to do it soon, and Nabiki knew she couldn't put it off much longer.

Time: 23:00

Phase 006.003, Mission Status: Incomplete

* * *

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Time: 23:00

Location: Tea Room, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Target: Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Interrogation

Phase 006.004

"What was that about?" Ranma asked after Nabiki had left.

Akane shrugged. "How should I know?"

"I dunno. The two of you have been spending an awful lot of time together lately. Why'd she post that flyer in the first place?"

"Who knows? That's just Nabiki for you."

Ranma watched in astonishment, noticing how Akane flicked her eyes up and to the right while twirling a strand of hair flippantly behind her ear. He recognized the reaction immediately. It was something she did whenever she was hiding something, and he'd known her long enough to be able to pick up on those kinds of nervous ticks. He sat up directing his full attention on her as he began to dig deeper.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Although…" he began pointedly. "I'm beginning to think she might be rubbing off on you more than you think. After all, you have been acting odd for a while. Not to mention how you're acting around Shampoo and Ukyo. I think that's the main reason I thought you were responsible for the stupid flyer at first. If you hadn't been acting so weird I don't think I would have considered it a possibility for even a moment," he said indicating the flyer once more.

Akane frowned. She hated keeping things from him, and she wished so badly to tell him the truth, but didn't know where to start, or how to leave out the crucial parts that would ruin her original matchmaking plans involving his other fiancés. "It's just that…" she started tentatively, chewing her lower lip in thought. "I figured that I wasn't being entirely fair…"

"What do you mean?" he asked, crinkling his forehead.

"About the other girls. I mean I've said it before that you can date whoever you want and do whatever you want, but then I… Well, get upset whenever you… Do."

"Akane, I…"

"I'm just saying… I'm not going to get in the way. I mean you and I never made any promises to each other. It was our fathers' idea to get engaged. And it's not like that commitment is any stronger than the other ones you have…"

"What are you talking about, of course it is!"

"How?"

"Well it's just… I mean… Well it just is!" he insisted.

"And yet it's not," she sighed dismissively. "For all I know you could tell any of them the exact same thing. Despite what you may say Ranma, it won't mean anything until you actually make a final choice. And until you do, you might as well date who you want to date. Otherwise how will you ever figure out who you want to be with?" Having said her peace she turned back to the TV, an unreadable, somber expression on her face.

He wanted to tell her that he already knew. That she was the only one he had ever cared about, and that he had made his decision a long time ago, and that was why he considered their engagement to be different. He wanted to tell her that he had never even considered marrying one of the other girls, while he found himself thinking about spending the rest of his life with her as a welcome inevitability. But the words died in his throat. He couldn't say them. It was too mushy, and too unlike him. He couldn't be caught dead saying something like that. In fact, he was pretty sure if he did say something like that his mother would charge around the corner with her katana and then he really would be caught dead.

But instead an idea occurred to him and a plan formed in his mind. "So I can date whoever I want, huh? No strings attached?"

She stiffened for a moment but then nodded once without looking in his direction.

"Okay then," he said, settling back to watch the rest of the movie, knowing that as soon as it was over, he would have his opportunity.

So they watched the 'fantastic' special effects and blood and gore of the 1960's displayed ridiculously on the 20 inch television monitor, chatting randomly, laughing, munching on snacks, occasionally exchanging writings on the flyer for their literature assignment, and all the time, Ranma watched the clock, ticking away in his mind the seconds until it was over and he could make good on the agreement they had made the other day. As the movie went on their energy began to dwindle as it got later and later, and Ranma yawned despite his best attempts to stay awake, determined to see it through to the end. As the ending of the movie drew closer he grew tense, waiting for the moment of truth. Who was going to win?

Then finally, in the last moments, as King Kong's head breached the top of the water and began to swim towards land, the apparent victor, Ranma smiled. He couldn't remember a time he had been so glad to lose.

"Darn it!" he sighed dramatically. "Well that was totally unrealistic! I can't believe that stupid monkey won. Although if you ask me, it was a pretty lame victory. But oh well, you know me, I'm a gracious winner and a noble loser, so I guess I'll follow through with our deal and take you out to dinner like I promised. Since you were right I mean… I…" he trailed off as in his smug speech he turned to smile at her, only to find her with her head buried in her arms on the table, fast asleep. His face fell in bitter disappointment. "A-Akane?" he asked hopefully.

There was of course no response from her and he hung his head in defeat, annoyed that he had missed out on yet another opportunity. "When will I ever catch a break?" he whined to no one in particular. As soon as he had, his eyes fell upon the flyer on the table in front of her and he picked it up, reading over the last few lines she had scribbled out for their assignment.

'I can wait out the storm, believing someday it will pass. But if I'm wrong… If the clouds never part, and the sun never shines, will the air I believed in still keep me alive?'

He frowned, still struggling to understand the meaning behind her prose. She was a lot better at the whole imagery thing than he was. They'd been talking about waiting, and missing… Something. Something that was unspoken between them. He sighed knowing all too well that there were more than a few things he hadn't been able to say to her despite his best efforts. One thing in particular stood out in his mind. Something he'd wanted to say for a while, but couldn't. It was frustrating to him, and he suspected based on her writing that it was frustrating to her as well.

Hesitantly picking up his pen he looked around, expecting at any minute someone would burst into the room, demanding to know what he was doing, what he was thinking, what he was writing… But nothing happened, so with a sigh, he began to write, letting the words flow from his tired brain to his hand, and through his pen onto the paper, permanently etching out in ink his true feelings.

'Just hold on and trust that someday this storm will be over. The air does exist, just like those words unformed on my lips, that someday I wish to say to you.'

Time: 24:00

Phase 006.004, Mission Status: Incomplete

* * *

Date: Friday, March 5th, 2010

Time: 12:30

Location: Furinkan High School, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 002: Tendo Nabiki

Target: Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Mission Briefing

Phase 006.003 Continued

Nabiki was rather perturbed that she had to seek out her sister during the middle of her lunch break, but unfortunately she had missed out on the chance to speak to her before school. For some reason Akane and Ranma had overslept quite a bit that morning, and both had ended up running around the house at a break neck pace trying to get ready. That of course meant that Akane did not have a spare minute for Nabiki to give her a mission briefing.

However, Nabiki and Akane were out of time. While Akane had spent the week running herself in circles, and ultimately ending herself back on square one, Nabiki had been busy putting the finishing touches on the plot they were to carry out. Plotting was after all Nabiki's area of expertise. But the planning phase was over, which meant it was time to act, and that was Akane's area of expertise. Although the kind of acting Nabiki had in mind for Akane was clearly out of her range of experience, and she was a little worried that her younger sister may not be able to pull it off. But there was no time for reservations, because in the plot there was a wild card, and that wild card would be arriving way ahead of schedule. This was unfortunate since Nabiki had hoped for more time to prep Akane on what she needed to do and how she needed to act. But now, ready or not, Akane was going to have to move forward, regardless of her inexperience, and regardless of the implications.

Nabiki took a deep breath and secured her icy mask of stoicism before opening the door to classroom 1-F. After all, she had an appearance to maintain at school, and she couldn't let her anxiousness or apprehension show through. But as she looked at Akane and Ranma sitting together, eating their lunches in a world of their own, she again felt those sharp pains of guilt that were becoming all too familiar. Squelching those feelings she walked over to the pair.

"I'm just surprised she liked it so much," Nabiki heard Ranma saying conversationally.

"I know! Me too. You really did a good job, Ranma."

"You think? It was a little weird for me…"

"Hello Sis. Ranma." Nabiki cut in as she approached, her poker face in place.

"Hmm?" Akane muttered, turning to face her sister. "Oh hey Nabiki! Did you hear? Ranma and I got an A on our Literature assignment! Isn't that great?"

"It's not that big of a deal, Akane. You get As all the time," Ranma stated.

"But it is a big deal! I mean it was a combined effort between us after all, and instead of failing we actually pulled the whole thing off quite well. I think we made a half way decent team, don't you?" Ranma merely blushed and muttered some kind of affirmative agreement, but by then Akane had excitedly turned her attention back to Nabiki. She looked very happy. Again, Nabiki felt those unusual feelings of guilt tugging at her conscience.

"You want to read it Nabiki? Like I said, it's really pretty good! I have it here…" she said as she started digging through her papers.

"Ah, Akane!" Ranma said nervously. "I don't know if that's such a good…"

"Maybe later," Nabiki stated, earning a sigh of relief from Ranma. "Sorry, but Akane, I need to speak to you for a moment."

"Oh okay, sure. Is it about this festival your class is arranging? It looks really spectacular! The whole school's talking about it. I can't wait! I had no idea you were working so hard on something like that."

"Yeah, sort of," Nabiki said growing impatient. "But Akane, I really need to talk to you. Now. Alone."

"Oh, uh sure," Akane responded, sounding a little surprised by the tone. "Be right back Ranma," Akane said as she made her way out the door, following Nabiki into an empty classroom across the way.

"Things seem to be going well for you two," Nabiki said civilly before leading into the topic she wished to discuss. It turned out to be a mistake as Akane beamed brightly and began rambling quite rapidly about current events.

"Oh you don't know the half of it, Nabiki! Things are great!"

"That's nice Akane, but you and I really need to discuss..."

"I mean at first it was kind of awkward between us, because I was shy and somewhat embarrassed to face him knowing that our relationship was about to change so drastically..."

"Right awkward, but now we really need to focus on..."

"So I attempted to try and get over it so we could go back to normal..."

"Well normal won't quite work you see because…"

"And then I was afraid he wouldn't like me anymore so I tried flirting with him, but as you know that was a complete disaster!"

"Yeah about that, see the thing is..."

"But now I realize everything was fine from the start! It didn't matter that I was acting weird, it was just us adjusting to things. We just needed to work through it! And now..."

"Akane..."

"Now we can go back to the way things were! Or maybe even more because..."

"Akane! Stop!" Nabiki finally snapped and shouted, unable to hold back any longer.

"What is it Nabiki?" Akane blinked at her in surprise.

"Remember that 'project' we were working on?"

"Oh... Yeah, wow I guess I kind of... Forgot. Again. Sorry!"

"So you're giving up on it then?"

"Well..." She considered for a moment. For the first time she felt as if things were going to be okay. She and Ranma had been working through their feelings in their own way. Sure it was taking a long time, but she felt as if they would be able to work it all out eventually, and when they did… Akane sighed as reality reared its ugly head. When they did work things out she knew perfectly well that the other girls were bound to interfere. She knew there was no way around it. She had to follow through with the plan she had started with Nabiki. It was the only way.

Setting her resolve she shook her head. "No. I'm not going to give up! It has to be done!"

"You sure? Because after this there's no backing out. And I'm afraid you're not going to like what I have in store for your first real mission."

Akane swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "I-I'm sure. But... What is it you expect me to do now?"

Nabiki took a deep breath and forced a confident grin on her face, effectively hiding her own feelings of doubt. "No worries Little Sister. Everything's going to be fine…"

"_At least I hope so,"_ whispered a hesitant voice in the back of Nabiki's mind.

Time: 12:45

Phase 006.003, Mission Status: Complete

* * *

Date: Friday, March 5th, 2010

Time: 15:15

Location: Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Target: Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Interrogation Continued

Phase 006.004

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Target 000: Saotome Ranma

Objective: Preparing For Mission Commencement in T – 22 hours

Phase 007.001

Things were just starting to look up for Ranma. School was finally over, and as he walked home with Akane, he was actually feeling pretty good for a change. Too good for him to notice that Akane had been strangely silent ever since her conversation with Nabiki at lunch time. All he knew was that things were finally getting back to normal between the two of them, and somehow he had managed to pass all of his classes and move on to the next year. Plus there would be a break in classes for a month which meant he had some time to do whatever he wanted. That thought caused him to smile even more and as he began to think of how he would like to spend his time, Akane looked over at him and asked the very question that was occupying his thoughts.

"So Ranma, school's out for a while. What do you think you're going to do with all the free time?" she asked, with slight hesitation. Unknown to Ranma there was an angle to the simple question she had asked. After all, there were things she had to do over the break that would ultimately affect Ranma, and she was having a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to get him on board with the plan Nabiki had concocted without telling him what the plan was, or leading him to suspect there was a plan in the first place. Not an easy task considering she didn't exactly understand the purpose for the mission herself, and she was more than a little reluctant to carry it out.

Oblivious to Akane's inner turmoil Ranma merely shrugged in response to her question. "I don't know yet, Akane. I might go train in the mountains for a bit with Pops or something, but other than that I figured I'd just hang around here for a bit and take it easy. No real plans…"

He trailed off as a thought suddenly struck him. There were definitely ways he would like to spend the time off. He owed Akane a date due to their agreement regarding the movie, although he hadn't officially asked her yet, and he probably could easily shrug off the whole thing considering she hadn't seen how the movie ended. But the arrangement was one obligation he found he didn't want to avoid. After all, one date with Akane, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it would easily make his break worthwhile. He glanced at her sideways, still absorbed in her own thoughts, and then up and down the street, searching for anything that would potentially distract them. There was nothing. He smiled to himself. It was the perfect moment. No one was around to interrupt. She was acting like herself again. She wasn't going to stop him this time. _"All I have to do is open my mouth, speak her name and then tell her..."_

Unbeknownst to her, he took a deep breath and even made it as far as opening his mouth, but then his throat closed around the single syllable he attempted to mutter and the sound died before it passed his lips. He simply stood there, his mouth open, willing with all his might to scrounge up the courage he needed. _"Just do it, Dummy! It's not so tough! What is wrong with you? Do it now! Now!"_

"A-Akane," he spurted out abruptly causing her to jump as she was caught off guard by the suddenness of his exclamation.

"Yes Ranma?" she asked, her eyebrows crinkling in question at his behavior.

"I... Uh... Wanted to tell you... That is I wanted to say... Something... About... I mean, well that is that I want you to know that I really do... At times I mean, not always, but sometimes I think that you're really... Really... Um..." He trailed off. _"This is not a good start. No one wants some blundering idiot confessing to them. What happened to my idea of just asking her out? Coolly, calmly..."_

"Akane, I was wondering if you would like to..." he got half way through the sentence, speaking quickly in hopes that he wouldn't chicken out at the end, but unfortunately he'd had no such luck. Then with a defeated sigh he hung his head. _"It's no use,"_ he thought to himself. _"I can't say it."_ Despite giving up she was still looking at him expectantly and he frantically wracked his brain for a less intimidating conclusion to his sentence.

"Would you, uh, like to... uh..."

_"Come on you dope, you need another word..."_ his subconscious screamed at him.

"To uh... Have!"

_"Okay good, there's one word, now another..." _

"A..."

_"A? Seriously? That's the best you can think of? Ugh, this is tedious, gotta think of something to offer her fast..." _He fished around in his pockets trying to find something to offer as an excuse and was flooded with relief as his fingers brushed on an object and he abruptly wrenched it free to hold out to her.

"Stickers!" he shouted triumphantly, forgetting to say the word as a question.

Akane's curious, expectant look dropped to be replaced with one of confusion and a little bit of disdain for his pathetic behavior. "Yes Ranma, those are stickers. What of it?"

"Do you want them?"

"Stickers? Do I want some stickers? That's what you wanted to ask me?"

"Yeah, Daisuke gave them to me. They were left over from his science project I guess, but I don't really want them."

Akane looked at him skeptically. "Okay…" she drawled, and then giggled, reaching out to happily claim her prize. "Actually these are pretty cute. Thank you!"

"No problem," he mumbled flatly even as she peeled off a sticker from its sheet and placed it on his nose. He crossed his eyes trying to stare at it and then inwardly sighed. _"A gold star for my idiocy,"_ he mused, begrudging his failure while Akane giggled merrily and he found himself marveling at the pleasure she found in such a simple gesture made on his part.

He absently removed the sticker from his nose and took a moment to regroup his thoughts as he tried to figure out what he was doing wrong. He quickly realized the whole thing was just too awkward for him. He'd never been one for expressing his feelings, especially those he had for others. Jumping into something like telling a girl he loved her was simply too much. _"I really am pathetic,"_ he lamented. _"But I can't help it. I've never been good with words. I'm a martial artist after all and a man of actions and..."_ His thoughts trailed off as he was overtaken with a sudden realization and he looked over at his fiancé who was walking beside him, calm and serene and close enough to… _"Man of actions? That's it! All I have to do is act. I don't actually have to say anything! I can just show her how I feel by kissing her."_ He swallowed hard, staring at her lips which she failed to notice as she was once again lost to her own thoughts.

Thinking of doing it was one thing; actually following through with the action was another. _"What's the worst that could happen? She'd call me a pervert and hit me again? I'll just lie and say it's not what it looks like. Might as well, she never lets me explain why anyway. And she's forgiven me for worse things in the past. Besides, come to think of it she hasn't been hitting me lately. Funny. I wonder why that is? Hasn't been calling me a pervert either. I wonder… Could she possibly… Maybe… Want me to kiss her?"_

He glanced at her again. She was still staring at the packet of stickers in her hands and was chewing on her lip contemplatively, and he couldn't help think of how adorable she looked as she did. She hadn't moved away again after taking the stickers from him and instead had remained close to him. So close that he could smell her fruity shampoo and that slight aroma reminiscent of daisies that he knew was uniquely Akane, and he couldn't help but smile, glad to have her back to the way she was before. Then her arm brushed his slightly as she moved to place the stickers in her bag and his breath hitched sharply in response.

To his horror the action caught her attention and her eyes shot up to his face in question. "Something wrong Ranma?" she asked speaking his name softly.

"N-No," he stuttered. "Nothing's wrong…"

"Hmm," she said suspiciously. "Okay. If you say so…"

He barely noticed as she looked away again that her eyes fixated for a brief moment on his lips before she turned completely away, distancing herself from him a little more to hide the light blush that crept onto her cheeks.

"_She does!" _Ranma thought excitedly, unable to keep himself from breaking into a goofy grin. _"She totally wants to kiss me! Oh yeah, she wants me. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. After all, she was going to marry me, and honestly, how could she not resist someone with my charms and physique?"_ he thought, letting his arrogance overtake his thought process. _"Well, if that's really what she wants…"_

"Akane?" he said, his voice low and husky as he reached out to take her wrist, turning her to face him, watching in delight as her startled eyes gave way to a soft, hopeful expression.

"Yes Ranma?" she whispered, her voice electrified with a sense of anticipation.

Fortunately there was nothing else he needed to say. So instead he smiled, his martial arts training kicking in as he quickly calculated the best possible means of 'attack' with the least chance of resistance. He would take one step closer at the same time lifting his left hand, the one not gripping her wrist, to cup her cheek and slide through her hair to the back of her neck. Then he would slide his right hand up her arm and around her back while pulling her closer, tilting her head upwards so he could meet her lips with his own. It was all simple enough, a four step move that was far from complicated and nothing to be concerned with. Unfortunately the actual execution of those steps would require a great deal of courage on his part.

He swallowed one last lump in his throat, and his eyes flashed, darkening with determination as he decided to simply go for it. Finally, he reached his left hand out as he took a step closer… And walked directly into a flying splash of water.

He sputtered and blinked, momentarily deterred from his objective as he tossed water out of his red bangs, noting begrudgingly that Akane had of course not been hit with the water at all, as usual. The next thing he noticed was that she was now taller than him as opposed to shorter, and that fact tended to complicate things. He wasn't quite sure how to go about kissing her according to his plan now that he was shorter, which meant he would have to reassess the situation and come up with an alternative, yet equally affective 'attack.' Standing on his tiptoes seemed a little goofy, and it would be too easy for her to just lean away out of reflex before she figured out what he was doing.

It was at that point that another splash of water struck him in the face and he was reminded of the fact that there was a reason he was suddenly shorter. He looked down to confirm his suspicions and then sighed deeply. There was no way he wanted his second kiss with Akane to take place while he was a girl. It was bad enough that his first kiss with her occurred while he was a cat and he didn't even remember it.

So instead of stepping forward he took a step back and screamed in immense frustration, glaring daggers at the oblivious old woman watering down her sidewalk. "Why does she _always_ do that!" he yelled reacting a little more angrily than Akane was accustomed to for that specific situation.

"Ranma!" she hissed, pulling him away from the old woman and back down the street. "Calm down! It's not that big of a deal. What's with you this afternoon anyway? You sure are acting weird."

Ranma merely sighed deeply in response, thinking that no amount of hot water was going to bring back the resolve he had finally, momentarily developed. It was going to take him a really long time to get his courage back, and likely even longer for another opportunity to present itself considering the way things went for the two of them. _"That's it,"_ he thought, depressed. _"I give up…"_

"Hey Ranma?" Akane asked as the two of them resumed their walk home.

"Yeah," Ranma growled, still distracted by his thoughts and deeply annoyed, wondering darkly why nothing could ever go his way.

"I was thinking... Maybe it's time we started dating?"

Ranma was so shocked by her sudden proposal that he tripped and almost fell flat on his face, catching himself at the last possible second. He then stopped in his tracks as she continued walking, babbling on in embarrassment. What she said wasn't registering as he still digested her initial statement. It wasn't until she looked around and noticed he was no longer next to her that he started to come back to his senses. She turned and faced him and her words got through to him.

"Ranma? A-Are you listening? I was saying that maybe we should date…"

"Okay," he blurted abruptly without even thinking. If he hadn't let his mouth run away with him he probably never would have had the guts to agree to it and would have instead ended up saying something stupid to ruin it. But he considered himself lucky that he had been so quick to agree because after all, it was exactly what he wanted. More than anything else. A normal, simple relationship with the girl standing before him. A date. Something simple and normal.

Unfortunately a ghost of dismay crossed her features and he was aware that for some reason she was disappointed. But then the look was gone and she forced a smile on her face. "A-Alright then. I hope you have fun," she bit her tongue sharply and turned somewhat stiffly starting back home.

"Wait, what? Have fun?"

"On your date. Who do you think... Ah I'm sorry, never mind. It's none of my business I guess. I mean I said last night that you could do whatever you want, and I meant that, it's just I..."

"Wait, what are you talking about? I think I'm missing something."

"Y-You just agreed we should date..."

"Yeah..."

"...Other people. Right?"

"Ye-agh no! What?"

Akane sighed in frustration and looked forcibly ahead as she walked, a frustrated expression weighing on her face. _"Oh great. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought…"_

Time: 15:30

Phase 006.001: Damage Control, Mission Status: Failure

Phase 006.004: Interrogation, Mission Status: Failure

Phase 007.001: Mission Commencement, Mission Status: In Progress

…End Transmission…

* * *

Author's Notes: Gah! Okay, I have been nitpicking with this story for the last three days and ultimately changed very little. Time to just give up and say it's good enough. Another delay had to do with the fact that my formatting kept getting stripped so I couldn't center pieces of the story or add the horizontal lines. And it won't let me double paragraph anymore! Finally gave up on that last one cause it wasn't too important, but the rest took me forever to figure out. Even tried editing the html but that didn't work. Finally got it but I'm confused because it wasn't so difficult with past chapters. *sigh* Oh well...

Anyway, yay! My tangent is finally done! Now I can get on with the original plot for the story! This chapter actually came together a lot better than I expected (despite the last three days of nitpicking), and bridged the gap between the previous chapters and the upcoming chapters so well that I decided to nix the prequel idea. In case you don't know what I mean by that, last week after posting MI005 I renamed this story 'MI000: The Setup' and arranged for it to be a prequel to the upcoming chapters for 'Mission Impossible.' (So sorry if this has confused anyone needlessly.) But then I got a bunch of encouraging reviews that caused me to reevaluate the whole situation, and when I went into finishing MI006 I was in a better frame of mind I suppose and things went together so much better that I finally decided to stop complaining about the direction the story had taken and just accepted it. Chapters 2-6 aren't bad, they just worried and stressed me because they were difficult and slightly problematic for the rest of the story. I didn't think I would be able to pull the objective off correctly, but now that I'm looking back at the finished work I actually think I did an okay job after all.

But now school is out for Ranma and Akane, Nabiki's done with her planning, and everything is about to get turned upside down. Can the residents of Nerima survive the combined efforts of Akane and Nabiki Tendo and their unorthodox matchmaking techniques? More specifically, can Ranma? I guess you'll just have to wait to find out!

A few notes, remember I have a poll going about which story my readers want me to update, and a Deviant Art account link in my profile. Check it out, because the only reason I have a DA account is to display pictures from my stories, and there is one from the last scene of Mission Impossible of Ranma and Akane. I've also toyed with the idea of literally 'writing out' Ranma and Akane's literature assignment complete with two sets of handwriting, corrections, teacher's comments, etc. and uploading the image to my DA account. What do you think? Sound fun? A few people have expressed interest in seeing more of their assignment and although I see the draw there really wasn't a very good way to put this into the story more than I did. However, I could write it out as a type of companion story/image… Last but not least, please check out my newest Oneshot, The Trouble With Hugging Girls. It was a piece of something that was supposed to be in MI005, and I was disappointed to see I had forgotten to include it, so I made it into its own Oneshot.

**Coming soon: MI007: Scarlet and Mustard**. It may take a while for me to get this one out as I have some plans the next few weekends, but the segments are all mostly done so at this point it's just a matter of me meshing everything together. However, **_if you want to see an upcoming scene, before I post the whole thing, just give me a review and at the end write 'scene please,' and I'll send you a PM with a segment from the next chapter. But don't JUST say 'scene please,' you still have to write an actual review!_**

Reviews truly make my day! I can't get enough of them! And believe it or not they influence where I got with the story and my desire to work on a story QUITE a bit! So if you like this work, please let me know!

Thank you for reading!

Ja ne,

~ C ~


	7. MI007 Scarlet and Mustard Part 1

Chapter 7: Scarlet and Mustard (Part 1)

* * *

…Begin Transmission…

File: MI007

Date: Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Time: 15:16

Location: Bedroom of Subject 001, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject 001: Tendo Akane

Objective: Mission Prep

Phase 007.002

Akane methodically went through her closet pushing each hanger to the side as she examined each shirt, skirt and dress. Meanwhile she fought down her feelings of nervousness and anger, concentrating on the details of the conversation she'd had earlier that morning with her sister, rather than the mission she was about to undertake…

…Reviewing Transmission: Phase 007.001, Time: 11:37…

"He what?" Akane screeched, her hands constricting, twisting, and effortlessly shattering the boken her sister had hander her only moments before. "Ooh I'm going to kill him!"

"Now, now Akane, remember our deal," Nabiki said pointedly. "No fights on the compound."

Akane's eyes flashed as she turned towards her sister. "That was for Ranma! You never said anything about anyone else!"

"It still stands. Besides, you just promised you would try and stay calm until I finished, so have a seat please."

Akane opened her mouth to argue further but then with an obvious effort shut it again. There was an additional inner battle that played on her face as her coloration changed from various shades of red to purple before settling on a light pink flush as she took a deep breath and sat down with a audible angry sigh, her arms crossed.

"Fine!" she spat. "I'm listening. Let's get this over with. I have the sudden desire to try a new cooking recipe. Pork cutlets sound good?"

Nabiki smirked. "You can't cook Ryoga, Akane. Now please, would you calm down and hear me out?"

"I am calm!" Akane all but screeched. Nabiki gave her a look and Akane again sighed before settling once again. "Fine. I'm calm. But I'm certainly not happy!"

"Noted. Anyway, to the point. Yes, Ryoga is P-chan."

"And a pervert!" Akane shouted her interjection.

"Also noted," Nabiki continued. "However, I think I have some evidence to help ease your mind a bit on that account." She pulled a picture from a yellow file labeled simply as Mustard and handed it to her sister.

"Nabiki!" Akane flushed as soon as she saw the image. "Why do you have pictures of me changing?" she growled.

"I'm nosey and don't respect people's privacy. We've been over that. Can we continue? Because you are not the point of this discussion. Look at P-chan."

"You mean Ryoga?" Akane sniffed still in an agitated rage.

"Yes, Ryoga. Do it please?"

Akane looked at the image reluctantly. "What's the point of this? He's just sitting there staring at the... Wall?"

"Exactly as in not at you."

Akane blinked, her eyebrows furrowing before she shook her head and put the picture aside. "It's just one time, it doesn't prove any..."

In response Nabiki pulled out another stack of similar pictures, all involving P-chan not looking at Akane. Akane flushed at some of the images but at the same time felt some of her apprehension slip away as she stared at the images proving Ryoga wasn't as big of a pervert as she had originally thought.

"Think about it Akane. All the times Ranma's run around him in his topless girl form, what has Ryoga done?"

Akane paused to think of numerous scenarios where Ryoga would blush furiously when coming in contact with Ranma or any regular girl. The lost boy had a rather unfortunate habit of getting nosebleeds at even the slightest hint of female nudity. P-chan had very few nosebleeds. If Ryoga had been taking advantage of opportunities to spy on her he most certainly would have had that unfortunate reaction more regularly. "So then if he wasn't trying to peek at me then... Why...?"

"Duh, Akane! He's in love with you!"

Akane's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "What? Why? No way! That's completely ridiculous! We're just friends! He comes by to fight with Ranma or drop off gifts or..." Her voice trailed off as her mind roamed over various conversations from the past, nervous laughs, flares of temper when she mentioned her feelings for Ranma or commented about how she hoped she and Ryoga would be friends forever. How saying she hated him upon his urging had helped him to finally master his Shi Shi Hokodan ki attack... And then when she had said 'let's be friends forever…'

"Oh my!" Akane blurted suddenly. Then collapsed onto Nabiki's bed and buried her face in her hands.

"So I take it you don't feel the same then?" Nabiki asked, ever the pragmatic one.

"No!" Akane blurted snapping her head up. "I mean..." She sighed. "Ryoga's a nice guy and all... At least I thought he was! I still think it was awfully messed up lying to me like that, but now that I think about it, it kind of fits with his personality. He's so awkward and uncomfortable around girls and he's always so depressed and down on himself. It almost makes sense that it would be the only way to get close to a girl he liked. But I most certainly do not approve of his methods!"

"Granted, I doubt that anyone would. But if it wasn't for that issue how would you feel?"

"He's just a friend," Akane said without hesitation, shrugging simply. "And I guess…" She sighed deeply. "I feel sorry for him. He's always appeared so lonely. I can't really think of any reason why he's so shy and lacks self esteem around women."

"Sure you don't want him as a back up?"

"No! Of course not! We're just not right for each other. And after everything that's happened between us…" she blushed recalling memories of her time with P-chan. She was glad that she didn't have to face him for a while. It was going to take some time for her to get over his betrayal. Even longer before she could see him as her friend again. But one thing was sure. "I'm just never going to see him _that_ way."

"Well good then. Now I expect you to tell him all of that on your date today."

"Excuse me? Our what!"

…End Transmission: Phase 007.001, Time: 11:55…

Akane sighed again and noticed she had been paying very little attention to the task at hand, namely picking an appropriate dress that looked casual yet cute and was cute enough to make the whole date look convincing yet not too cute so that he got the wrong idea… Despite the fact that she would purposely be trying to give him the wrong idea.

"What am I getting myself into?" she asked as she started at the beginning and began clawing through her closet once again. Nabiki had given her additional advice on how to act and what specifically she needed to accomplish, but she was still nervous. Even though it wasn't technically a date, she had no idea what she was doing. A knock on her door distracted her from working herself up into more of a nervous wreck. "Come in," she shouted without taking her attention away from the task of rifling through her clothes.

The door opened slowly and there was a slight shuffling noise as her visitor hesitantly opened the door and made his way inside. Akane looked up and held back the urge to sigh out of frustration. His timing was not ideal. _"Oh great, now what? Nabiki gave me advice on how to handle this as well. Now what was it she had said?"_ Akane asked herself._ "Oh yes. Aloof. Have to act aloof." _

"Hello Ranma. What's up?" she asked in a distracted voice as she made note of several appropriate dresses to wear.

"Nothing really. I uh just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay." Before letting him continue she spun around and held up a dress in each hand. "Blue or yellow?" she asked indicating the two dresses.

"Um, blue," he answered in a confused voice.

Akane nodded her head once and put the yellow dress back, hanging the blue one on the closet door. She then began examining her collection of shoes. "Anyway, you were saying Ranma?"

"Oh, um yeah. Well, I was just, you know, wondering… About what you said yesterday?"

"Yesterday? What do you mean exactly?" Akane tried her best to remain calm, repeating Nabiki's mantra over and over in her head. _"No emotion. Just calm. Aloof."_

"About, you know, us dating and stuff."

"Oh yeah that. What about it?"

"Well, I mean… You weren't… Serious were you?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I don't know, cause… It's just not like you, and I was wondering if maybe it had something to do with… You know, the uh, the…" he paused and took a deep breath before choking out the last word. "Wedding?"

Akane laughed off the question lightly, resisting the urge to tense up at the mere mention of the recent disastrous event in their life. "What? No! Of course not! Honestly! Why in the world would you be worried about something like that? I'm not upset!" Akane inwardly berated herself for letting her façade slip, all too aware of the way her voice squeaked and sped up with the denial. Fortunately it was clear that her obvious discomfort had been lost on Ranma. He was too caught up in his own uneasiness, and he never had been very observant when it came to such things.

"B-Because, I dunno. I never did… Apologize… For what… Happened…"

Akane was momentarily stunned into silence. She couldn't remember the last time he had truly taken responsibility for some catastrophe involving the other girls. He'd always done his best to remain impartial in whatever spats took place between the four of them. Furthermore it was still rare for him to speak even vaguely in reference to the wedding.

Then he laughed, rocking back onto his heels as he rested his hands behind his head in an all too familiar show of egotism, and Akane's newfound faith in him vanished instantly. "I mean not that it was really me to blame or anything. After all, you were the one that agreed to the whole mess in the first place. All things considered I can't understand why you'd be upset with me about it. But you have been acting really weird ever since then. So I figured maybe for some crazy reason you're bothered by that whole situation or something?"

Akane winced, and gritted her teeth. _"It's hard to be a different Akane when he's busy being the same old Ranma…"_ She took a few calming breaths counting to ten as Nabiki had taught her, all the while hiding her face behind the doors of her closet so he couldn't see just how close he was to hitting the nail on the head. "No Ranma, I'm not upset at all. After all, as you so kindly pointed out, it wasn't really your fault. It's not like you asked them to show up." The words felt like bile coming up her throat but she spat them out smoothly nonetheless.

"Well, yeah. That is true," he chuckled lightly in the same way he always did when he thought he was getting away with something. Akane rolled her eyes, all too familiar with the way he shrugged off any responsibility or admission of wrong doing on his part. It was sickening, and the reminder of some of his less endearing qualities mixed with old insecurities about their relationship were suddenly much stronger than a distant fading memory she had where she could have sworn he said he loved her…

"_And now comes the part where he says it's lucky they showed up in the end because it saved him from marrying some un-cute, un-sexy, no talented loser tomboy…"_

But he didn't say that. Instead he stopped laughing quite abruptly and when she turned to look at him questioningly their eyes met for a brief moment before he looked away, almost as if he felt remorse. And then she realized the truth. He wasn't the same. She wasn't the same. Things _were _different now. Not just for her, but for him as well. _"Come on Ranma," _she inwardly pleaded. _"Just insult me like you always used to do. It'll make this all so much easier…"_

Then his voice broke the silence quite roughly. "Still… Akane, maybe I didn't ask them but I… I mean… I certainly didn't try to stop 'em, or… Well, what I mean is that…"

It was too much for Akane. She was losing her resolve, so instead of helping him continue she retreated to the closet once more and pulled out two pairs of white shoes as a means of distraction. "What do you think? Heel or no heels?"

He gaped at her for a moment before responding. "Um, heels I guess?"

Akane examined the heeled shoes before nodding once. "Good choice."

She put the shoes down and turned back to the closet. He didn't say anything at first, but he was still standing there, so she prompted him once again, hoping he would just give up and leave her to her preparation. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Oh um, I'm not sure now," he answered scratching the back of his head.

"Oh. Okay then." She spun back around to face him and placed a white hat with a blue ribbon on her head. "Hat or no hat?" she asked.

He immediately wrinkled his nose. "No hat."

She didn't have a mirror on hand so decided to simply trust his judgment on that one. "Okay," she said as she tossed the hat back in the closet.

"So seriously, you're not mad or anything about… Well, about anything?"

"Nope," she said as she went over to her desk. "I'm not mad at all." She then opened a drawer and pulled out a small jewelry box. With her back once again turned to him she began to carefully sort through the collection of earrings and necklaces. "Anything else you wanted to talk to me about Ranma?"

"Well, uh… I just wanted to tell you that," he paused and for a moment Akane was beginning to doubt Nabiki's 'words of wisdom.' Her plan definitely didn't seem to be helping things. If anything the mess was making things worse. Akane had the sudden urge to face Ranma and encourage him to say what he wanted to say, but something held her back. Finally with a dejected sigh he gave up. "Nothing I guess. Never mind."

"If you say so." Akane breathed, trying to hide her mixed feelings of relief and disappointment. She then pulled out a necklace and handed it to him. "Here," she said, holding her hair to the side so he had easy access to her neck. "Do you mind?" she asked, indicating that she wanted him to help her put the necklace on.

"Uh, sure," he responded uncertainly fumbling with the clasp before putting it around her neck. As he did his fingers barely graced the back of her neck and she could hear his breath catch at the sudden touch. She bit her lip trying hard not to react as well.

"Thank you," she managed to choke out as she felt the weight of the necklace fall against her skin and his fingers move away from her neck.

"No problem," he said as she busied herself with adjusting the chain and fixing her hair briefly. Anything to avoid looking back at him. "It's pretty," he added.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she fingered the silver chain and the blue jeweled pendant hanging from it. "It was my mother's."

"I've never seen you wear it before. You don't usually wear jewelry."

Akane blushed slightly finding it somehow exhilarating to think he would notice something like that about her. _"This isn't good," _she thought. _"I can't let him get to me like this right now. He's going to end up ruining everything!"_ Right about then Ranma seemed to notice what his words implied as well and quickly backpedaled.

"But I mean, what do I know? It's not like I actually pay attention to that kind of stuff," he stuttered out quickly.

"_Hmph. Dummy." _Feeling composed again and slightly miffed she stood and made her way back to the closet. "I wouldn't expect you to," she said with only a slight touch of annoyance in her tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to finish getting ready."

"Oh sure. No problem." He started to walk out the door but stopped halfway. "Wait. Get ready for what?"

"I'm just going out for a bit," she responded, her back to him as she began to take the dress off the hanger.

"Out where?" he continued, a suspicious tone emerging in his voice.

Akane shrugged, still avoiding looking at him. "Not sure. Maybe get something to eat, some ice cream. Walk around a bit. Whatever."

"And you need to get all dressed up to do that? Fess up Akane, who exactly are you going out with?"

Akane sighed and spun around to face him. It took all of her strength to look him in the eyes as she answered. "Not that it's any concern of yours, but if you must know I'm going out with Ryoga."

He stared incredulously at her for a moment, a series of emotions twisting on his face. First there was a look of shock, followed by an ever so brief pained expression, then his face twisted again and with a confident smirk he began to laugh. "Oh now I get it. Very funny Akane, but if you're mad at me about something you could have just admitted it instead of playing these stupid games."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Ranma," she huffed.

"Oh come on, trying to make me jealous by saying you're going out with Pig Boy? It's not going to work. I have no reason to be jealous of some tomboy like you."

Akane started slightly, not because he had insulted her yet again, but because he had referred to Ryoga as Pig Boy, something she'd never really paid much attention to in the past. _"He knows?"_ she wondered incredulously. _"He knows! Of course he knows. Why wouldn't he know? I mean it's so obvious now, and he's always called him names like that. Pig Boy, Bacon Breath… He's even called him P-chan! And… Ugh! I really am an idiot. I just thought it was some lame reference to him acting like a pig, which never really seemed like a very fitting insult to me. But still… Why? Why didn't he tell me?"_ she wondered, suddenly feeling hurt and betrayed.

Still, she tried in vain to keep her emotions in check and instead laughed at his previous comment. "Jealous? Why would I be trying to make you jealous? Besides, you're the one that's always running around with other women." She bit her tongue sharply aware she'd gone too far with her anger, but it was too late to take back what she'd already said.

"Aha! So you are mad!"

Akane took a deep breath which sounded too much like a sigh for her liking and crossed to the door in order to usher him out before she said something else she would regret. "Not really. But let's face it. Things can't keep going on this way. Sooner or later you're going to have to make a choice. But until then, there's no reason I can't enjoy myself now is there? Did you honestly think I was just going to sit around like the other girls and wait for you to make up your mind?" It came out harsher than she intended, and a part of her rational mind was aware that it wasn't the girls she was angry about. At that moment, she was far more upset that he had never told her the truth about Ryoga.

He of course couldn't have known that though, and instead her comment caused his anger to flare up, making him indignant. "If you're trying to force me into making a decision it's not going to work, Akane," he said.

"I'm doing no such thing."

"Oh give it a rest will you? I'm not stupid!" he shouted, deciding she must be bluffing and intending to call her on it. "Even if Ryoga did happen to ask you out on a date, there's no way he'd actually be able to meet you somewhere. He's nothing but a directionally challenged pig-brained idiot. Admit it. This is just all some kind of charade. You don't even know where Ryoga is."

"Actually, I know exactly where he is."

"Oh you do, huh?" he yelled, obvious disbelief in his voice.

"Uh huh. He's in the dojo waiting for me."

"He's… He's…" Ranma's eyes narrowed suddenly. "Why that little…" He turned and ran out the door mid sentence, leaving Akane to ponder once again, whether or not she was making a mistake.

Time: 15:44

* * *

Time: 15:40

Location: Tendo Dojo, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 002: Hibiki Ryoga, Codename: Mustard

Objective: Waiting

Ryoga paced the floor of the dojo nervously waiting for Akane. He couldn't believe his luck. Without realizing it he had made his way back to Nerima, and while shopping in a small grocery store, trying to figure out how to make his way to the Tendo Dojo, he was stunned when in walked Akane, the very object of his thoughts. She smiled upon greeting him, saying it was nice to see him again. He blushed like a maniac, feeling as awkward as ever. Then later, as they walked back to her house together, Ryoga carrying her groceries, she had actually asked him out on a date. Granted she'd never actually called it that. Rather she'd suggested that they grab a bite to eat and catch up on recent events, but it was the closest he felt he'd ever get to a real date with her, and therefore he'd agreed whole-heartedly.

"But why now?" he asked himself out loud. "She's never had any real interest in me before, other than as a friend. What changed?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

"Huh?" Ryoga looked up at the sound of someone else in the dojo and spun around to face him. "Oh it's you Ranma. Heh. What are you doing here?"

"Gee P-chan, I was about to ask you the same question."

"Oh haven't you heard? I'm here for my date with Akane," he responded in an annoying, gloating tone.

Ranma glared at Ryoga's cocky attitude and fumed to himself. "Sooo, you finally got the nerve to ask her out did you?" he asked.

Ryoga blushed and looked at the ground as he steepled his fingers together nervously. "Well uh, actually," he stuttered awkwardly. "She kind of asked me out," he admitted before erupting into a fit of uncontrollable nervous giggles.

Ranma merely looked stricken for a moment. _"Oh this just keeps getting better and better,"_ he thought darkly. He frowned, still glaring at Ryoga. At that moment he was simply seeing red, and thoughts of denying his feelings for Akane or protecting Ryoga's secret due to a stupid brash promise he had made long ago did not even enter into his mind. All that he could think of was how much he wanted to wipe the smile off his irritating rival's face once and for all and serve up P-chan's remains to Akane on a silver platter.

"Pheh," Ranma grunted distastefully. "You really are a piece of work Ryoga. In fact you disgust me. Some stupid tomboy with zero sex appeal or taste comes along and asks you on one measly little date and you're just going to forget all about Akari? Remember her? Your _girlfriend!_"

Ryoga's goofy grin dropped rather quickly and was immediately replaced with a saddened expression. "T-That's because…" he began in a quiet voice that Ranma could barely make out. "Akari's Akari, and Akane is…" he trailed off without finishing, and merely sighed somewhat sadly his eyes growing distant.

Ranma's expression narrowed further. "Ooo-kay, yeah. That's makes perfect sense," He said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "You know what Ryoga? You disappoint me. This is low, even for you! I mean you've been a pain since you first showed up in Nerima, but still, I always considered you to be a little more honorable than…"

Ryoga didn't let him finish, his eyes flashing as he shouted back at Ranma. "Shut up Ranma! You don't know what you're talking about! And who are you to talk of honor? You, with your three fiancés that you string along. You don't deserve Akane. You don't deserve any of them!"

"Oh yeah, _P-chan_," he said emphasizing the name rather obviously to make his point. "You're certainly right, _P-chan_," he continued. "I have no honor. Gee _P-chan_, you're so honorable, and genuine, and honest! If only I could be more like you!" He paused momentarily as Ryoga glared at him before deciding that it was possible he hadn't made his point quite clear enough. "P-chan, P-chan, P-chan!" he added for good measure.

Ryoga crossed his arms and looked away in agitation. "At least I didn't almost get her killed…" he muttered under his breath.

Immediately he knew his mistake and despite the animosity he typically felt for Ranma he couldn't help wishing he could take the words back. It was going too far, and he knew it, especially as he saw the look on Ranma's face, and felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees. Gone were any traces of ill meant humor at Ryoga's expense. Ranma no longer looked to be in the mood to taunt him anymore. He was mad. The malicious, taunting light in his eyes vanished to be replaced with a cold and sinister glow. And then, almost more frighteningly, he smiled. A dark, humorless smile.

"Fine Ryoga, we'll have it your way then. Let's say you're right. Let's say I don't have any honor. If that's the case, then I suppose there's no reason for me to keep your little secret any longer," he said as he stalked closer, producing a pale of water from behind his back and balancing it on one finger. "After all, the only reason I ever kept quiet about it in the first place was because I promised I'd help you keep it between the two of us and was therefore honor bound to do so. And so, I let you go around sneaking into Akane's bed and doing all kinds of dishonorable things. Which asks the question, what's more dishonorable, breaking my promise or letting you continue with your inexcusable behavior?"

"N-Now come on Ranma, that's not fair! You promised, remember!"

"Yeah, you're right I did. But there's a limit to how far you can stretch that. I'm not going to let you take advantage of that promise any longer."

"You're only saying this now because you're jealous that I'm going out with Akane. You should let her make her own decisions, Ranma."

He sighed. "Fine, P-chan, have your little date. But I'm warning you… You better tell her the truth this time. And if you don't, I will."

Ryoga gulped nervously and nodded once, glancing back and forth between Ranma and the bucket of water.

"RANMA!" Suddenly the door slid open and Akane appeared in the doorway. Ranma jumped to the side cringing as she shouted at him and Akane wasted no time in upturning the bucket of water over his head.

"Ah man, Akane whaddja do that for?" Ranma asked now thoroughly drenched and female.

Akane merely glared at him. "Think about it for a while and I'm sure you'll figure out the reason," she said coolly before turning to Ryoga with a bright smile. "Shall we go Ryoga?"

"S-Sure thing Akane," he said laughing nervously. He met her at the doorway, Ranma following close behind.

"So where are you two crazy kids going anyway? You know it's such a nice day! You should rent a boat or something. Or go to the water park! Or hey, you know what? Why stop there? Why don't you go all the way to the beach?"

Ryoga again swallowed a nervous lump in his throat and Akane glared at Ranma, but then surprisingly turned to Ryoga and smiled. "That does sound nice, Ryoga, don't you think? All of that nice… Cool… Water…"

"Uh-heh-heh, um, why don't we just go grab a bite to eat or something first?"

Akane's eyes glinted for a moment with an unfamiliar light before she smiled and nodded. "Alright. Sounds great. I know the perfect place!" With that said she took Ryoga's arm and began to lead him out of the room, pausing briefly to look at Ranma on her way out.

"Don't you dare follow us Ranma," she said plainly. "I don't want you interfering."

"Hmph. Why would I? Who cares what you do anyway?"

"Good, then there should be no problem," she smiled while walking out the door, leaving him to fume by himself.

Time: 16:00

Phase 007.002, Mission Status: Complete

Commencing Phase 007.003: Date #1

* * *

Time: 14:50

Location: Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject: Target 006: Kuonji Ukyo

Objective: Deliveries

Not far away, a teenage girl walked along the streets of Nerima making her way towards the Tendo Dojo with slow, diffident steps. She flipped her long chestnut colored hair so it fell evenly across her back and took a deep breath, letting the crisp winter air fill her lungs. She knew it would be spring soon. She could smell it all around her, and feel it in the warming sun. The cherry blossoms would be blooming in a little over three weeks. On a Tuesday. Probably in the morning.

She didn't know how she knew this, she just did. Ever since she was a little girl she'd been able to predict with alarming accuracy the day and time when the first cherry blossoms would bloom. It was a strange, useless ability, and one she didn't really care to possess anymore. When she was a little girl it had actually been something she was proud of. After all, the cherry blossom season had once been her favorite time of year, and she had many fond memories of sitting around campfires under the fragrant trees, telling stories while eating sakura mochi and sipping locally made tea.

Of course that had been many years ago, back before Ranma had come along to change everything. After Ranma her life no longer consisted of such simplistic pleasures. Instead her life had become a succession of training missions as she worked to perfect her skills as an okonomiyaki chef and a martial artist. But amidst all of the training and traveling there had been a long passing of time, and a lot of springs. She'd spent those springs in many locations, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. She'd cooked okonomiyaki for many customers happily viewing the blossoms in some of the finest parks and temples Japan had to offer. She had sat under trees drinking sake with friends and strangers alike. She'd even broken her vow to swear off womanhood on a few occasions so she could don a pretty floral kimono and walk beneath the trees. She wasn't sure the point to it all, and she wasn't sure what she had been looking for. She'd only known that she wanted to feel again some of the excitement she used to feel when the season came. But the farther away she traveled, the more she realized that there was no place that could compare to her home during the cherry blossom season. The blossoms simply were never as fragrant, never as pristine, never as alive, and never as meaningful as they were in a small dusty village on the outskirts of Osaka that she used to call home.

She had hoped it would be different in Nerima. After all, Nerima was supposed to be her new home. But she felt as if something was still missing, and sadly, she doubted that the coming spring would be any more special to her than the ones that had preceded it.

It was on such days, more nostalgic than most that she found herself wondering, "What am I doing here?" Her mind quickly spun well practiced convincing arguments for how she was following her dreams and spending time with the one she loved. With Ranma. She was working towards building a life for the two of them. She was becoming a well known okonomiyaki chef, and perfecting her craft. She was getting closer to him. Their relationship was growing stronger. And he was working towards a resolution to the whole fiancé mess. Soon he would make a choice. It was only a matter of time…

Only a matter of time…

Her pace slowed to a standstill and she looked up wearily in the direction of the Tendo Dojo. The more time she spent with him… The more she cared about him. The more she cared about him, the more she realized… She really truly wanted him to be happy.

She had convinced herself that this was the reason she had crashed his wedding. He couldn't possibly love Akane. He couldn't actually want to be with her. Ranma and Akane's relationship was rocky at best. He'd made that very clear from the first day she had seen them together. Ranma had even introduced Ukyo as his cute fiancé while introducing Akane as the un-cute one. Therefore she thought he would be relieved if his wedding got ruined and he was provided with an out from his forced engagement to a Tendo. She thought he would thank her…

He hadn't. If anything he had seemed somewhat agitated when he looked at Ukyo or Shampoo, and when he looked at Akane, she sometimes noticed a look akin to regret in his eyes. Or maybe it was just guilt. Ukyo couldn't be sure one way or the other. Still, some things just didn't add up anymore according to her preconceived notions about the pair, and this realization had caused her to open her eyes and take a better look at their relationship.

Ukyo's plan to win Ranma over had always been simple. She would stand to the side as his close, sympathetic, supportive friend, waiting patiently for the moment she thought would inevitably come where he and Akane would split up for good. Then she would swoop in and pick up the pieces. But the closer she had looked, and the more time she spent with Ranma, the more she had started to suspect that initial appearances had been deceiving.

Sometimes she felt as if there was more to their constant bickering. She'd wondered if there might be something in their meaningful glances and glares. And then there was the way they often rose to each other's defenses. There was something in the way they fought together, for each other, and for themselves…

But she'd successfully convinced herself over time that those thoughts were merely paranoia brought on by her being overworked and lonely. It didn't mean anything at all. At least that's what she'd told herself. But after the wedding and the week following it, she found those feelings of paranoia were harder to ignore. And to make matters worse, she had started to notice this strange quenching pain in the pit of her stomach that grew stronger whenever she came near Ranma. For reasons she couldn't fully understand it got even worse whenever Akane was also around. And when he looked at Akane instead of her, defended Akane, even fought with Akane in a way that seemed to imply that he cared a great deal more than he should about the outcome… At those times the pain became unbearable, and it was all she could do to keep herself from running far away, never to return again.

Still, she couldn't give up. Not yet. After all, her golden opportunity had finally presented itself. According to the information she'd gleamed at a rather high cost from Nabiki, Akane was planning on taking a step back for a while. She had decided to not interfere in Ranma's 'affairs' and simply make a choice on his own. Ukyo was sure Shampoo would be taking every possible opportunity to exploit that fact, and Ukyo figured she should do the same. Still…

A part of her was scared that it didn't matter. A part of her was sure that the choice had already been made. A part of her knew that Akane wasn't just the un-cute fiancé… She was the only fiancé. Ukyo had been playing a losing game from the start…

So she'd stayed away, having found a nice distraction from the pain in her gut in the form of work and other random chores and activities. But by 2:00 in the afternoon the lunch crowd had died down at her restaurant, and she had fully completed a lengthy to do list. The last item on the list had been to visit Ranma, something she thought might as well be left for the next day… Or possibly the day after that…

She'd struggled with the decision most of the day. It was a difficult, painful call to make. Or at least it would have been if Nabiki hadn't called and made the decision for her. With an angry sigh she began to resume her trek towards the dojo reflecting on how Nabiki had insisted she come right over with a deluxe okonomiyaki plate for one. It was frustrating. Especially considering Nabiki knew perfectly well Ukyo didn't do deliveries.

The pain in her stomach was growing heavier with each labored step. And then…

"Have you heard of that new café downtown? I think it's called the Fountain Café. Very trendy theme place. My friends have been going on and on about it…" a jovial voice came from around the corner.

Curious, having recognized the voice as Akane's, Ukyo shuffled into a nearby alley, watching in silence as Akane passed by with Ryoga.

The lost boy laughed nervously. "Sounds great," he replied eagerly.

"Okay then! And maybe we could do some shopping first?" Akane continued as they moved out of Ukyo's hearing range.

The chef stepped slowly out from her hiding and watched the pair retreating down the street. "What was that all about? She sure was all dressed up. I wonder if they're actually on a date? Hmmm," Ukyo mused as a smile began to spread across her face. Things were starting to look up slightly…

With those thoughts in mind, Ukyo spun on her heel and hurried the rest of the way to her destination, a newfound spring in her step.

Time: 16:02

* * *

Time: 16:04

Location: Entryway, Tendo Compound, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject002: Tendo Nabiki

Target: Classified

Objective: Classified

Moments after Ryoga and Akane had departed, there was a knock at the door and Nabiki ran down the stairs shouting out that she would get it. She opened the door revealing Ukyo with a box of okonomiyaki.  
"Here's your delivery," she huffed, handing the box to Nabiki as her eyes quickly darted around the room, scanning for any sight of her fiancé. Good fortune at having a ready excuse for dropping by his house or not, she was still somewhat miffed at the middle Tendo girl and her manipulative tactics.  
"Why thank you Ukyo! So nice of you to rush this over."

"Well what choice did I have?" Ukyo asked, setting her eyes back on Nabiki and crossing her arms over her chest. "Calling me up and telling me if I don't bring you lunch right away you'll double the price for that information you gave me the other day? By the way that will be 860 yen," she said.

"Tell you what. Let's call it even."  
"Seriously?"

"Sure why not?"

"Thanks Nabiki, that's awfully… Nice of you." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"What do you mean? There's no catch."

"Sure there isn't," Ukyo said while rolling her eyes.

"Oh but come to think of it there is one more thing."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ukyo muttered under her breath. She looked at Nabiki with a resigned expectant glare, but Nabiki merely smiled and flicked Ukyo a coin in response.

"Don't forget your tip!" she said.

Ukyo's forehead twitched slightly as she stared at the change. A lousy five yen coin was just plain insulting, but coming from Nabiki it was far from unexpected. "Gee, how generous."

"Now, now, don't be like that! It's for good luck! Kind of a Pay-It-Forward type of thing. When someone does you a favor, you pass on that coin to them and instruct them to do the same."

"Uh, okay… Thanks, I… Guess." It struck her as odd that Nabiki would care about such a thing, but before she had a chance to question it Nabiki had whipped out a stack of flyers.

"Oh, and I almost forgot!" she said as she handed the flyers to Ukyo. "Maybe you can put some of these up at your shop as a way of advertizing? I expect to see you there too of course!" she said with a smile and a lecturing wag of her finger. "Just remember, it's for couples only, so do bring a date."

Ukyo looked over the flyer. "Class fund raiser. Blue moon festival? What's this about?" She started to ask but was cut off as Ranma walked in the room still a girl fuming about Ryoga and Akane being idiots.

Ukyo froze for the briefest of seconds before putting on her patented grin and running over to greet her fiancé. "Ranchan!" She shouted as she gave him a hug that he would have noticed as slightly less enthusiastic than usual had he been paying attention.

Likewise, her smiled didn't quite reach her eyes as she looked at him and asked, "Did you miss me?"

"Huh? Oh hey Ucchan," Ranma responded stiffly.

"Something wrong Ranma?" she asked, noticing his mood seemed slightly darker than usual. She wasn't stupid. She was sure whatever was dragging him down had something to do with a temperamental fiancé of his and a certain lost boy, but there was no reason for her to let on to the fact that she already knew that.

"No," Ranma grumbled, also not wanting to address the underlying cause of his frustrations. He then stepped away from Ukyo and attempted to focus his attention on her as a useful distraction from the thoughts he was having about Akane being out with Ryoga. "So what are you doing here?" he asked in a tone that was rather bland despite his genuine attempt to sound friendly.

"Just a quick delivery. Hey, by the way, I saw Ryoga and Akane on my way over. Looked like they were heading to that new café that just opened up. You know that themed one with all the cool fountains? Have you been yet?"

Ranma winced. Ukyo had just proven herself the worst distraction ever. "No. Can't say that I have."

"Oh. Well, what were they doing together anyway? They looked awfully cozy," she said with a playful smile. "Did Ryoga finally get around to telling her how he feels about her?"

"Ha! I highly doubt it. He's so _pig_ headed. Probably wouldn't have the guts to go through with it if his life depended on it."

"I don't know," Ukyo mused out loud. "He seemed awfully happy, and determined," she suddenly became very giddy. "Wouldn't it be great if they did hook up Ranchan? Then you wouldn't have to marry Akane anymore and you'd be free to marry me!"

"A-ha-ha-ha," Ranma laughed nervously. "You're forgetting Ukyo, even if he did get up the courage to confess to her, there's no way Akane would ever be interested in that no good jerk with a lousy sense of direction," Ranma ranted, desperately trying to convince himself that what he was saying was true. "I mean seriously, I dare you to find one good point about that idiot."

"Hmm," Ukyo said thoughtfully. "Well, let's see. He's super strong, loyal, dependable, brings her cute little presents, always eats her cooking even though he knows how awful it is, always there for her when she's in trouble, plus he's really kind to her and he's certainly not that bad looking…" she trailed off, her thoughts taking a turn she hadn't quite expected. _"Stupid Akane. Doesn't even realize how lucky she is! What I wouldn't give for Ranchan to give me half the attention Ryoga gives to Akane…"_

Ranma was fuming deeper. "I said one good point, not a dozen." Ukyo clearly was not helping things.

"Sorry Ranchan. You wouldn't happen to be jealous would you?"

Predictably Ranma immediately erupted into a procession of denials, evoking a frown from Ukyo. However, her spirits lifted as he suddenly turned to her with light in his eyes. "Hey Ukyo, what are you doing now?"

Ukyo blushed and stared back at him nervously. "Wah-Well, nothing really. I closed the shop early so…"

"Great! Cause you know, if she can go on a date there's no reason the two of us can't right?"

"R-Right," she said a deep blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Alright then let's go! How about that café you were just telling me about a second ago?"

Her face fell a little. "T-The Fountain Café? B-But, I thought you hated being around water what with your curse and all..."

"True…" he grinned. "But I'm not the only one that's uncomfortable around water…"

Time: 16:15

Commencing Phase 007.003 - Date #1 (Scarlet and Mustard)

Commencing Side Mission: RMI001 - Date #1 (Target 000 (AKA Saotome Ranma) and Plum (AKA Kuonji Ukyo))

Objective: Sabotage... (Insert Evil Laughter)

...End Transmission...

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long to get out. This and the next segment were originally supposed to make up one chapter but it was just getting too long and I needed to rethink the next part a bit. What it comes down to is a choice for my readers regarding how the dates will play out...

Option 1: Quick and minimally painful. Ryoga and Akane go straight to the cafe, Ranma and Ukyo follow and try and ruin their date and Akane ultimately reveals to Ryoga the REAL reason she asked him out... This will most likely take me less time to write but it's not quite as clever as the next option.

Option 2: Decently Lengthy and EXCRUCIATINGLY painful... But in a very funny way. Ryoga and Akane take a detour to a Hyaku Yen Store (like a Dollar Tree) to do a little shopping and kill some time... Ranma and Ukyo follow... Ranma tries to mess with Ryoga without being seen by Ryoga or Akane all the while hiding from Ukyo the fact that Ryoga and Akane are in the same store. Meanwhile Ryoga tries his best to avoid all the water accidents that keep coming seemingly out of nowhere and becomes quite stressed out, and ironically it's all for naught considering Akane already knows about his curse... Of course Ryoga doesn't know that she knows. And Akane knows that he doesn't know that she knows. Meanwhile Ranma doesn't know that she knows and... wait... Now I'm confused. Ugh. Never mind. You get the point. Basically water hi-jinks and sneakiness ensue. Classic Ranma 1/2. This would definitely be a more traditional canon type story as these kind of things happen frequently in the manga, and I do think it could be very fun. However, it would take a little longer to write... And the other option does have its merits as well and it is slightly more realistic... But then what about Ranma 1/2 is realistic anyway?

Okay, either way please review or PM me to let me know what you think of the story AND how you would like the next chapter to play out. If you like the second option I'm definitely open to any suggestions you might have for water objects or water containers that might be found in a Dollar Store as well as anything that could be used to block water in a humorous manner. ;-)

And in case you're trying to keep track of all the mission codenames I've created a chart! Enjoy!

Subject 001 – Akane Tendo (Alias: Scarlet)

Subject 002 – Nabiki Tendo (Aliases: Target 001, The Butler)

Target 000 – Ranma Saotome

Target 001 – Nabiki Tendo (Aliases: Subject 002, The Butler)

Target 002 – Ryoga Hibiki (Aliases: P-Chan, Pervert, Mustard)

Target 003 – Classified

Target 004 – Classified

Target 005 – Xian Pu (Alias: Shampoo, Peacock)

Target 006 – Ukyo Kuonji (Alias: Plum)

Target 007 – Classified

Target 008 – Classified

Target 009 – Classified

Easy imaginary cookies for anyone who can figure out where the color codenames are coming from. Yeah I know that's easy. That's why I said EASY imaginary cookies. For the record Akane doesn't know about the codes yet, or where they come from, but she will in a few chapters. It's a Nabiki thing.

Oh yeah, and again, PLEASE review! Thanks!

Ja ne,

-C


	8. MI008 Scarlet and Mustard Part 2

Pre Notes: An update! Wow! Did you ever expect to see this chapter appear? Thanks for your patience on that note. More below. Now, only thing you need to know about this chapter is that a Hyakuen Shop is like the Japanese version of a Dollar Tree store. Hope you enjoy this bit of insanity as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 8: Scarlet and Mustard (Part 2)

* * *

…Begin Transmission…

File: MI008

Date: Saturday, March 6th

Time: 16:40

Location: Hyakuen Shop, Nerima District, Tokyo Japan

Subject(s): Subject 001: Akane Tendo, Codename: Scarlet; Target 002: Ryoga Hibiki, Codename: Mustard; Target 000: Ranma Saotome; Target 006: Ukyo Kuonji, Codename: Plum; Bystanders A-G

Target(s): Error 543-12: Message truncated due to size…

Objective(s): Error 543-12: Message truncated due to size…

Progress on Phase 007.003 and RMI001 delayed due to unforeseen circumstances...

Initiating Phase 007.004 – Project Mayhem

Taigo Amuro was a very prideful, neat, and tidy man in his mid twenties. At least that's how he would describe himself. Others might refer to him in not so friendly terms, such as pretentious, arrogant, obsessive compulsive, shady, backstabbing or all of the above. There were several theories about why Amuro was the way he was, but truth be told Amuro was simply a self-absorbed jerk that cared very little about what others thought of him. In his mind those that didn't value his talents and capabilities were simply uncultured, and if they didn't approve of his methods for success they were simply weak and sniveling losers that didn't deserve the responsibilities he had worked so hard to obtain.

Yes, he'd worked hard to get where he was, and his future looked bright. He was the youngest employee ever promoted to Senior Manager of a Hyakuen Shop in all of Tokyo. Never mind that he had taken out a lot of competition along the way with less than admirable tactics. Amuro was not a superstitious type. When others shook their fingers at his shady dealings and generic misdeeds and stated he'd best watch his back and change his ways because what goes around comes around he snidely laughed and dismissed their advisements as nonsense. Unfortunately Amuro should have heeded their warnings, because what he failed to realize was what comes around and goes around in Nerima is often very, very bad.

But Amuro wasn't thinking of the past. He was thinking only of the now, and of the future, and of how his hard work was about to pay off once more.

"Yes Meido-san, today's the day," he said to the tall, burly Assistant Manager at his side as they surveyed the store from their important place near the main entrance. It was an impressive sized store, with the main entrance and front windows to the south allowing for plenty of sunlight to come in and give an automatic cheery feel to the store. There were also two adjoining entrances that connected to the neighboring shops on either side to the east and the west, a hair boutique and a pastry shop respectively. The Hyakuen Shop had a simple and efficient layout: restrooms and warehouse towards the back of the store, checkout stands towards the front, horizontal aisles with many rows of tri-shelved stands reaching five feet tall on both sides of the store, and eye catching kiosks and towering display cases splitting the room and decorating the center of the store. The store was completely filled with the best merchandise the franchise had to offer. Several years ago Amuro had 'acquired' some information about the head distributor, and ever since confronting the man with the scandalous information he had unveiled, Amuro always was delivered to first, and always got to pick the very best items for his store.

Meido observed the store briefly, just as Amuro had and then crossed his arms over his chest and grunted a noncommittal response to his boss' statement. Amuro took this as encouragement to continue, and did just that. "Yes, in another twenty minutes the Regional Manager himself will be here to judge our store and present us with an award for having the cleanest and most customer friendly Hyakuen Shop in all of Tokyo. I've been assured the evaluation is simply a formality," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "After all, we've received only positive reviews from customers over the last six quarters," he gloated.

Meido grunted again, an exclamation that was intended to reference the excessive amount of employee dissatisfaction reviews and outrageous turnover rate the store was known for. However, this objection was lost on Amuro who merely buffed his nails on his lapel and continued his speech.

"And the best part of it all is that the Regional Manager is bringing a special photographer to take pictures of our store for the upcoming nationwide catalog! I'm telling you Meido, this is it! This is the perfect opportunity for me to get out of this ridiculously remote little district for good!"

Meido narrowed his eyes and grunted. He had grown up in Nerima. It was where his family was. It was where he planned to raise his own family and settle down one day. Needless to say, or grunt, he liked Nerima, and took offense to Amuro's perspective of his home.

However, Amuro was oblivious to this as he continued. "After today they'll surely see that my talents are simply wasting away in this awful little place and promote me to a position of greater importance. Maybe they'll move me to a more prestigious location! Or maybe they'll make me a consultant! Oh! I could see the country and travel to other stores all over Japan instilling the same greatness I have put into this store into the stores run by other managers less inclined to details as myself."

Unbeknownst to Amuro, Meido rolled his eyes and then let out a grunt that sounded suspiciously like a scoff. Amuro turned and smiled at him. "You see Meido-san, that's why you're my favorite employee! You and I always see eye to eye on these matters. I'll tell you what," he said leaning closer and whispering in a conspiring tone. "When I'm gone, I'm going to put in a good word for you to be the one to take over my position. Then all this can be yours!"

Meido raised a disinterested eyebrow and grunted. "No, no. No need to thank me Meido. You've truly earned it! That is, if you help me pull off this presentation without a hitch. After all, if this doesn't work out… Well then, I suppose you weren't meant for this line of work after all, hmm?"

This caused the volume of Meido's grunt to reach a high pitched whimper. He cared very little if he moved up in the company or not. His life was comfortable enough and despite having done very well in school, he had never truly been an ambitious man. However… He was comfortable! He didn't care much for the thought of being unemployed. That would mean he'd have to go out and search for a job again, something he had never enjoyed. For some reason most employers found him gruff and lacking in conversational skills. There was only one true choice for Meido; suffer in silence beneath his tyrannical supervisor and help him obtain his desired promotion that would hopefully send him far, far away.

"Well, enough of that," Amuro said. "Shall we go over our checklist one last time?"

Meido reluctantly grunted his acquiescence, not that it mattered as Amuro had already flipped out a notebook and placed his reading glasses over his eyes. "Let's see… Deep cleaning of the store…" he ran his finger across the nearest counter, examining it for dust before exclaiming quite pointedly, "Check."

Meido's following grunt expressed that the store had better be clean considering Amuro had insisted all the employees, Meido included, stay late to clean, dust, polish, wax, buff and arrange the merchandise over and over again to meet Amuro's standards and decorative whims. Meanwhile, Amuro had gone home to get his beauty sleep.

"Oh, did we fire Hashimoto-san?"

Meido grunted a regretful, yes. Hashimoto-san was a nice elderly gentleman that had worked for the company longer than Amuro had been alive. However, he was getting on in years, something that Amuro seemed to take an irrational offense to, and he had made it a point to collect as much dirt on Hashimoto and the other less than 'aesthetically pleasing' employees that worked for the store. In preparation for the coming photographer, Amuro had fired all the employees he had accumulated enough dirt on and simply asked the others that didn't meet his standards not to work that day.

"Mariko-chan did end up coming in didn't she?"

Meido grunted another disapproving yes and looked across the floor to the poor girl in her early twenties that had a vicious scowl on her face. Mariko was young and pretty, and had the nicest smile of all the store employees. Many customers had commented in the past that her excellent customer service skills had brightened their days. Watching as Mariko stormed down aisles, with her cart of merchandise, slamming items down on their assigned shelves, Meido couldn't help but wonder if Amuro's insistence that she either return early from her honeymoon and smile pretty for the cameraman or not return to her job at all would backfire. Mariko definitely wasn't emitting her typical glow. She looked downright livid, and he could tell customers were going out of their way to avoid her.

"Good. What about Honda-san? Did you insist he drink a few cups of coffee? I don't care if he has an ulcer. If that young man yawns while talking to another customer…"

Meido grunted another yes simply to get Amuro to end his speech.

"Good. Good. Well then, I suppose the last thing we need is some nice looking customers to grace our doorstep and…"

Just then the main entrance opened and an automated speaker pleasantly called out its welcome of "Irasshaimase!" as a young couple stepped inside.

"It's just a little bit of rain Ryoga, I'm sure we can still make it to the restaurant," said Akane in an anxious tone.

"Haha, well uh, you see, I wouldn't want you to get soaked…" Ryoga responded nervously.

"Oh honestly Ryoga, you're being silly. Why would either of _us_ need to worry about a little bit of water?" Akane asked with a mischievous glint in her eye that was lost on both Ryoga and Amuro who observed them from afar.

Amuro frowned slightly as he looked them over. They were tracking water on his freshly waxed floor. "It's raining," he grumbled, before brightening slightly. "Oh well, good thing I… uh, 'acquired' those extra absorbent door mats!" He then appraised the two newcomers and smiled. They would do nicely as models for the photo shoot. The girl especially. She was young and stylish, and though slightly tomboyish, very cute and modern looking. It was exactly the type of trendy image he wanted to promote within his store. The boy however, though well built and athletic looking appeared to have very little sense of style as he was wearing simple dusty yellow traveling clothes. "Of all things, why yellow?" Amuro thought, lamenting the fact that yellow always turned out tacky and horrific looking in photos. The boy's attire stood in stark contrast to the image of the young lady beside him. Still, he had a ruggedly handsome look about him, and despite his clothing, Amuro supposed he would do well enough. He didn't want his customers to appear too airbrushed after all. They were supposed to look like real people.

Still, the girl looked around the store hastily, searching for something specific. She looked as if she was anxious to be somewhere else, and had only stepped into the store for a quick purchase, not because she wanted to leisurely shop. He glanced at his watch and frowned. If only he could somehow manage to stall them for another fifteen minutes…

"Let's just pick up an umbrella… Or two," Akane said after thinking it over momentarily. As it was, Ryoga had been standing uncomfortably close to her since the start of their so called date. "Then we can get out of here, okay?" Akane said.

"Sure, Akane, whatever you say," Ryoga agreed as he made a beeline towards the eastern door that would lead him into the neighboring hair boutique.

Akane rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm pulling him to the opposite side of the store. "Umbrellas would be over here silly," she said in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Oh! Right!" he responded in embarrassment before erupting into another fit of nervous laughter.

Amuro frowned. "Hmm, well this won't do. As soon as they find the umbrellas they'll be on their way. We can't have that," he said while pulling a small whistle from his upper vest pocket. He blew on it sharply and immediately a young man in a store uniform was at his side.

"Yes Sir, how may I help you Sir?" The young man squeaked in an abrupt, uneasy tone.

"Honda, I want you to find all the umbrellas and rain apparel and move them into the back warehouse." Amuro said.

The young man blinked, confused as he stared outside at the rain that was rapidly turning into a thorough downpour. His eyes then drifted to Meido who merely shrugged. "S-Sir, do you mean for me to get rain gear out of storage?"

"Did I say that?" Amuro snapped.

"N-No, you didn't but seeing as it's raining…"

"Do not question my judgment!" Amuro barked. "Just do as I say. Now!"

"Y-Yes Sir!" Honda stuttered, bowing quickly before darting off to do as he was told.

Amuro rolled his eyes. "Young people these days," he grumbled to Meido. Meido responded with a grunt.

Just then the speaker at the front entrance called out "Irasshaimase" a second time and two more customers made their way inside. Amuro quickly looked them over, just as he had the previous couple. The young red haired girl was quite the exotic beauty, although he clucked his tongue in disapproval at her unfashionable, boyish clothing. Her date however was… On closer inspection he frowned deeper as he realized the girl's date was actually another teenage girl also dressed like a boy, only more convincingly so.

"What is with the tomboys today?" he muttered. "And why do I get the feeling I've seen that red head somewhere before?" he pondered it momentarily before shaking his head dismissively. "Well, never mind that now. The other young couple will do well, but these two will have to go. They definitely don't promote the type of image we're going for. We'll have to hurry them out of here somehow, Meido." He started to make his way closer, listening in on their conversation as he approached.

"What are we doing here, Ranma? I thought you were taking me out to eat?" Ukyo asked in curiosity that was bordering on annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah in a minute," Ranma responded. She was scanning the store sporadically as if searching for something other than products. "Could've sworn I saw them come in here," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Ukyo asked suspiciously.

"Nothing Ukyo!" Ranma responded nervously. "Just uh, thought that maybe…"

"Excuse me young… _ladies_," Amuro said putting a stress of distaste on the final word. "Something I can help you find? Maybe I can help. The sooner you find what you want, the sooner you can be on your way."

Ukyo cocked an eyebrow at the man and crossed her arms over her chest. "Meaning what exactly? Don't want us inside your precious little store?"

Amuro was taken aback slightly. "My, my, now whatever would give you such an idea?" he asked in a manner he hoped would placate the girl's distrust. "I just assume two young ladies like yourselves have other things you'd rather be doing than hanging around a place like this. Now please, how may I help you?"

Ukyo looked as if she were about to 'discuss' the issue further but never got a chance as Ranma spoke up first. "We're good, don't need no help. Just trying to find… uh…" Her blue eyes suddenly widened and her lips fell into a wicked grin. "Aha!" she shouted. "Just who-er what I was looking for! Come on Ukyo," she said taking the girl's hand and darting off in the opposite direction than she had been looking a moment before. "Let's go!"

Amuro frowned watching them go. "Strange girls. Not to mention rude and unfashionable." He shook his head in disdain. "At least they seemed to be in a hurry and won't stay long. Now if only…"

"Excuse me?" came a voice behind him. He spun around to face the young woman, Akane, that he had seen enter his store earlier and her date.

Amuro smiled brightly, putting on the charm. "Ah yes miss, how may I help you?"

"Well you see, my friend and I here were wondering if you possibly had any umbrellas. It's raining you see, and…"

"Ah, umbrellas, yes of course. Hmmm, I don't see any on the floor. But come to think of it I believe we got a shipment in about an hour ago with those items. Unfortunately it's still in the crate. Might take a while to get out."

"Oh no. How long?"

"Oh I would say…" he paused to look at his watch before looking back up and smiling. "Just about ten to fifteen minutes. I wouldn't mind getting them as long as the two of you are willing to wait?"

"That's so nice of you!" Akane exclaimed. "What do you think Ryoga, shall we wait?"

Ryoga glanced at the man warily before looking back to the rain falling outside. With a bit of reluctance he nodded his head towards Akane.

"I guess we'll wait then. Thank you so much, Sir. Sorry for the trouble."

"Oh no! No trouble at all! Anything for a cute girl like you," he grinned. "Be back in a jiffy," he finished before turning towards the warehouse. He stopped next to Meido and whispered quickly, "I'm going to take a coffee break and freshen up a bit before the Regional Manager and photographer arrive and return just in time to present that cute couple with an umbrella in front of them. It should make an excellent photo, don't you think? Oh, and while I'm back there see if you can get rid of those two," Amuro muttered with a curt wave of his hand towards Ranma and Ukyo. The two both stood out with their strange behavior. Ranma was attempting to discretely creep through aisles for some strange reason. Meanwhile Ukyo trailed behind with a bored look on her face as she glanced at items, yawning occasionally in an exaggerated manner. Amuro shook his head in disdain. "What is with those two anyway? A couple of oddballs if you ask me. Do make sure they don't get into any trouble, hmm Meido? I trust you can handle that much."

Meido nodded while grunting his assurance and they both went their separate ways on their own missions.

Meanwhile Ryoga scowled as he watched the two supervisors leave. "There's something… Off about that manager."

"I thought he was nice," Akane responded dismissively while flipping through postcards at a front kiosk.

"I just didn't care for the way he was looking at you…" Ryoga said. He had picked up on some kind of weird vibe from the man. He didn't quite seem sincere somehow, and Ryoga firmly believed the whole polite and accommodating routine was a front. "I get the feeling he's working some kind of angle."

Akane however had caught none of this and her eyes narrowed slightly in response to Ryoga's statement. He was beginning to get on her nerves in a way she didn't think was possible. Implying that the manager was being inappropriate was one thing, but that had been the sixth incident of the like since they had left the dojo.

She couldn't really fault him much for his behavior towards Kuno. They had run into him almost immediately after leaving the dojo and he had of course been quite rude and… Well… Kuno-ish.

He'd been confused to see Akane with someone other than Ranma at first. After all, if Akane were to break free from the foul clutches of the 'evil sorcerer Saotome,' certainly she would immediately go running to Kuno's 'strong noble arms.' It baffled him to find her at the side of 'the wandering nomad that had often been bested in duels by the weak and cowardly Saotome.' Before Ryoga or Akane could even attempt to respond to his initial outburst, Kuno had already reasoned that Ryoga was merely Akane's escort, 'commissioned with the task of relaying her to Kuno's side.' In light of that revelation Kuno stated he was grateful for Ryoga's services that were of course no longer needed, and attempted to tip Ryoga with a rather insultingly low sum of money.

Ryoga, not quite used to the ostentatious gibberish that spouted out of Kuno's mouth on a regular basis merely stood with his mouth hanging open in confusion. He wasn't sure if he should feel insulted, flattered or patronized, but when Kuno made a move to embrace Akane, Ryoga had settled for rendering Kuno unconscious as it seemed like the sensible thing to do.

Unfortunately to his disappointment Akane had not been impressed. He'd been happy to fight for her and defend her honor, but he'd forgotten that she was a proud Martial Artist herself, perfectly capable of taking care of herself in such situations. In fact she preferred taking care of things herself. She'd been annoyed, especially since Kuno had been about to ask her something about her sister. She had lightly chastised Ryoga for interfering and he had immediately… Sulked. Slightly begrudgingly she apologized for being brash, although in all actuality she couldn't understand why such a tame reprimand had sent him into a downward spiral in the first place. Regardless, they'd made up, which turned Ryoga instantly into a giddy carefree goof once more. Unfortunately the giddiness made his Shi Shi Hokodan quite ineffective on the group of guys from her school's Kendo team that he'd mistakenly assumed were pestering Akane. They'd simply been out on some kind of mission led by Kuno which for some odd reason involved passing by her house and had stopped to ask her if she knew where their captain had disappeared to. To be fair, one had asked Akane what she would be doing later that afternoon, but all and all the boys had behaved well enough. They certainly weren't deserving of a random ki blast, even if it was a botched attempt at one.

The boys had found Ryoga's attempt at defeating them rather amusing, and that of course made Ryoga depressed, which of course made the Shi Shi Hokodan work… Which made him happy… At least until Akane yelled at him for using such a serious technique on a bunch of amateurs and not letting her handle the whole thing on her own like she'd requested a mere 30 seconds ago when they'd been through the same thing with Kuno. That had appeared to put him in a sulk once more. Honestly, his rapid mood swings were making her head spin.

Still, she assumed she could overlook Ryoga mauling Kuno and the Furinkan Kendo team. But then there was poor Gosunkugi! Ryoga had tackled him for no apparent reason spouting some nonsense about the boy trying to fan her with some ancient powerful fan that would curse her to fall in love with him or some random lunacy. Pure nonsense. And then there was the short guy with the glasses that had asked her for directions, and the grocery vendor that had attempted to make small talk with her about her older sister Kasumi and finally the manager of the Hyakuen Shop they'd entered. It was all quite ridiculous!

Ryoga's next comment brought Akane out of her thoughts. "Seriously, he's got to be ten years older than us and he's flirting with you? Must be some kind of pervert."

That statement had really ruffled Akane's feathers. If anyone was a pervert, Ryoga/P-Chan was. For _him_ to go around accusing random people of being perverted was completely delusional and irresponsible. Besides, he was blowing every little thing way out of proportion.

"I just get the feeling he's up to something!" Ryoga finished.

After taking a deep breath she began carefully, "You know Ryoga, you're really starting to sound…"

"Like Ranma?" he finished.

Akane flinched. She hadn't even been thinking that, but upon reflection it still didn't fit. Ranma at least had a right to be jealous of other guys considering he was technically engaged to her. Ryoga however had been on a date with her for less than an hour and was already proving more jealous and paranoid than Ranma ever had for the entire year she'd known him. He was being far too possessive and suspicious for her liking. It was just plain rude and presumptuous.

Or maybe she was just mad about his betrayal of her trust regarding his masquerade as P-Chan all along. She was finding it hard to keep that tidbit of information from clouding her judgment about the boy she had once considered a good friend.

"I was actually going to say paranoid." Akane said, still attempting her best to keep her temper in check.

"Oh," Ryoga responded sheepishly with a miserable blush. In his mind he wasn't being irrational at all. Kuno had been trying to grope Akane, he just knew it, and the members of the Kendo team were all looking at her in a way that they shouldn't. He knew for a fact that the fan Gosunkugi had was enchanted because… Well… He'd almost bought it himself once upon a time. As for the boy asking directions and the grocery vendor, he had to admit he might have gone a little over the top with them, but he was almost certain the manager at the Hyakuen Shop could not be trusted. Akane didn't seem to think so though. This made Ryoga feel rather frustrated. It truly bothered him that Akane didn't appear to have much faith in him or his apprehensions about things.

Akane looked at Ryoga and his slouched shoulders and sighed for the umpteenth time, feeling just a little sorry for him. He did seem to suffer from a lack of self esteem after all, and she wasn't making things particularly easy on him.

"Look, let's just start over, okay? Let's forget about everything that's happened up until now and try to have some fun."

Ryoga smiled. "Yeah okay. That sounds good."

"And you know, maybe we should just agree to avoid talking about Ranma altogether. I mean I'm sure the two of us can think of plenty to talk about that has nothing to do with… Ranma?" Distracted from her sentence she scooted past Ryoga to stare towards a distant aisle. Unaware, Ryoga continued the conversation.

"Of course! In fact, I've been meaning to tell you about this trip I took…"

"No, no I mean I thought I just saw Ranma!" Akane insisted scanning the store with her eyes. But on closer inspection the familiar red hair she'd glimpsed out of the corner of her eye appeared to be a mannequin with a Raggedy Ann wig on its head next to a short man with large dark glasses, a trench coat and some kind of crazy looking white dreadlocks.

Ryoga raised an eyebrow, looking in the same direction. "You must be imagining things," he said in an awkward flat tone.

"I-I guess…" Akane said slightly embarrassed. "Still, I could've sworn…" she shook her head and smiled attempting to change the subject. "Never mind. How about we look around for a bit before the manager returns, hmm?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in that same distant aisle Akane had been staring at, Ukyo's eye twitched rather compulsively at she stared at her fiancé. "What are you doing?" she asked Ranma before glancing around to make sure no one was staring at the spectacle her so called date was making.

"J-Just, trying on this here coat?" Ranma responded as if it was a question rather than an explanation. "You like it?" she asked as an afterthought to improve the credibility of her excuse.

"I… Guess. When you take into account that it's a 100 yen piece of plastic sewn into the general shape of a coat, I suppose it's decent. But what's with the mop on your head and the goofy giant clown glasses?"

"Hehe, yah… That… I uh…" The truth was she hadn't been very careful about staying out of sight and Akane had almost recognized her. She'd thrown on the best disguise she could find in a moment's notice, and though she felt ridiculous, Akane and Ryoga had moved on without further investigation, so she supposed it had been a success. Although now she had to deal with Ukyo's questions…

"I was just trying to have a little fun," she reasoned finally.

"And dressing up the mannequin," Ukyo continued, addressing the dummy next to Ranma. "I suppose that was for fun too?"

"Well, I uh, felt bad for taking her coat and leaving her with nothing you see, so…" she trailed off laughing nervously at how silly her explanation sounded. In truth she'd been rather proud of herself for coming up with the idea to throw the red wig on the dummy. It was the perfect diversion, and as expected Akane had assumed the red headed wig was what had initially caught her eye rather than Ranma's own red hair. Unfortunately Ranma's actions had caused plenty of suspicions on Ukyo's part. Ranma didn't want her to catch on to the fact that she was really trying to spy on Ryoga and Akane. Girls were always so sensitive about that kind of stuff for some reason.

"I fail to see how all of this is fun," Ukyo said.

"You should try it then!" Ranma said, grabbing a nearby tablecloth to use as a cape and a short pink bobbed wig, both of which she offered to Ukyo to put on. Ukyo had been hidden behind a shelf when Akane looked over, but if Akane were to catch sight of them again, it would help if Ukyo was also disguised.

Ukyo raised an eyebrow at the offered garments. "I am not wearing that."

Just then, the Assistant Manager, Meido came into view and glared at Ukyo and Ranma, something completely missed by Ranma as her back was turned to the burly man. Meido crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head side to side while emitting a low, guttural grunt of disapproval. Ukyo blushed and smiled at the man nervously before taking the ensemble off Ranma and putting all of the items back where they belonged.

"Ah man! Come on Ukyo!" Ranma protested. "You're no fun!"

Ukyo glared but followed Ranma as she resumed her odd ritual of slinking through aisles cautiously. "Can we just go now? I thought you were taking me out to eat!"

"Yeah, yeah, in a minute," Ranma said as she caught sight once more of Ryoga and Akane, looking through a bin of stuffed animals in the middle of the store. "What's the rush? I thought maybe we could do a little shopping first."

"Here?" Ukyo asked skeptically staring in disdain at the gaudy assortment of random knickknacks filling up every aisle.

"Sure, why not? This place is awesome, don't you think?"

"Awesome?" she scoffed. "It's a Hyakuen Shop. Everything here is… Cheap."

"Gee Ukyo, I never took you of all people to complain about things being cheap."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she bristled.

"Just that you're frugal. It's not a bad thing! I was raised to be the same way."

"The same way? Ha! You know, there _is_ a difference between being sensible with your purchases and simply taking things without worrying about the consequences."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, thoroughly confused by what she was implying. It probably would have been easier to follow her if she hadn't been so focused on Ryoga and Akane.

Ukyo sighed noticing Ranma's attention was elsewhere, although she couldn't for the life of her figure out why her fiancé was so engrossed in the store. "Never mind. Just… What's so great about this place anyway?"

"You kidding? What isn't great about this place! They've got everything here you could possibly want! Cooking supplies, tarps… You know," she said her voice taking on an edge of excitement. "Once Pops and I even found a portable grill here! Sure, it was barely big enough to heat a can of soup, and it didn't even do that so great, but still! Besides, coming to this place growing up was a real treat. My dad brought me here every year on my birthday and let me pick out one thing every time." At this point Ukyo's jaw had dropped but Ranma paid no mind to it as she continued looking around the store with a fond smile on her face. "Got some fun stuff too. Sometimes if it had been a really bad year, like the year he taught me that stupid Neko-ken he'd even let me get two things!" She was practically beaming at this point. "Although, I'm not entirely sure we actually paid every time we came in," she continued reflecting.

Ukyo shook her head clearing her disbelief and clung to Ranma's arm as a means of comfort. "Oh, you poor thing! I never realized just how rough you had it growing up. I mean stealing from a Hyakuen Shop? It really doesn't get much lower than that."

Ranma frowned. "We did what we had to do to get by Ukyo. I don't regret it. Besides, you know how it is living on the road, no real source of income."  
"Well yeah, I'll admit I've come here once or twice for an extra pair of socks or some chopsticks when I was really desperate, and I do know the importance of being frugal, but I always at least paid!"

"Yeah, well I suppose you had the okonomiyaki to sell. It's not really the same."

"But Ranma, still…"

"Like I said, I don't regret anything," Ranma grumbled. "Sure it wasn't the easiest way to grow up, but we got by and if it wasn't for all that training I wouldn't be where I am today."

"Sure, but now that we're older, I mean, we can settle down. We don't have to live like this anymore. Don't you want more for your children and for yourself?"

Ranma looked around confused. "Like what?"

"Well like… I don't know! Real plates to eat off of and real nice clothes…"

"That's all frivolous meaningless stuff," she shrugged dismissively. "Sure it's nice to have stuff but it's not necessary. Besides, too much 'stuff' can be distracting from the art. I'd rather teach my kids a new exciting technique for their birthday than get 'em some stupid train set or a dolly."

Ukyo was about to say something else, but Ranma would never find out what, because right around that time she became aware that Akane was facing their direction. It was clear that they hadn't been discovered yet, but all Akane had to do was look up and she'd be staring right at Ranma and Ukyo. Ranma ducked her head and rounded a corner, to the next aisle where she came across a little boy in a red ball cap and his mother. Ukyo followed close behind, a little bewildered by the abrupt end to their conversation, but her attention quickly shifted to the conversation between mother and son.

"Mommy, Mommy, look!" the little boy called, showing his mother a small plastic squirt gun. "Can I have it? Please?" he begged.

"Do you have any money left from your allowance?" The mother asked, diplomatically.

"Well, no, but…"

"Then I guess you'll just have to wait until next week."

"Aah, but Mom!"

"No buts. Now, you can stay here and play with the toys for a little while until I'm done shopping but then we're going home, okay?"

"Okay," the boy sulked before the mother moved on to finish her shopping.

Ranma watched the whole exchange and then smiled broadly, seeing an opportunity in the making. "Hey Kid!" Ranma called, crouching down to be eye level with the young boy and producing a 500 yen piece. "Here, I'll give you this so you can buy that if you like."

"Really?" The boy beamed reaching out for the coin.

"Sure!" Ranma said snatching the coin back at the last second. "You have to do me a small favor though, okay?"

"Like what?" the boy asked suspiciously.

Ranma smiled and leaned over to whisper something in the boy's ear, gesturing discretely towards the center of the store as she spoke. When she was done whispering she straightened up and finished out loud, "And if you're successful, you'll see a _really_ cool magic trick!"

"Really?" the boy asked in wonderment.

"Yep!" Ranma said.

"Awesome! I'll do it!"

"That's a good boy," Ranma said tossing him the coin. "Now go make me proud Kid!" she called as the boy ran off down the aisle.

"That was nice of you Ranma," Ukyo observed, somewhat astonished by the random exchange. "But I think his mom was trying to teach him something about saving money and putting it to good use. You shouldn't have interfered."

"Not everything in a kid's life needs to be done in order to teach him a lesson," Ranma replied, strolling past Ukyo down to the end of the aisle, where she picked up a comic book and began turning the pages, pretending to look through it while she really stared around the corner towards the center of the store. "Besides, the boy earned the money from me fair and square."

"Doing what exactly?" Ukyo asked suspiciously.

"Just a little favor," Ranma responded with a grin as she waited for the plan she had set in motion to start.

"It's such a cute little piggy don't you think?" Akane cooed holding up a stuffed black pig in Ryoga's face.

* * *

"U-Uh… Sure…" Ryoga sweated nervously. Akane's sudden need to point out everything associated with pigs was making him more than a little uncomfortable. First she'd found a set of drinking glasses with pigs on them, then there was a ceramic piggy bank, and now the stuffed animals… It was quite unsettling.

Akane grinned wickedly. Despite herself, she was starting to have fun, even if it was at Ryoga's expense. She'd always enjoyed that particular store, and rummaging through the random gadgets and trinkets reminded her of lighter, simpler days. She had many fond memories of hanging out there after school with her friends, browsing for cute little gems, making up impromptu games with the random paraphernalia they found or playing dress up with all the random accessories. As for Ryoga… Well, she had tried to be nice, but ultimately making the boy squirm by parading random things resembling P-Chan in front of his face was far too much fun. Besides, she thought he deserved to suffer a little bit, and it wasn't like there was anything else to do… Or discuss… The pair had quickly discovered that outside of Ranma they had precious little to talk about at all.

"Maybe I should buy it as a replacement for P-Chan," Akane mused, holding up the pig to examine it more closely.

"R-Replacement?"

Akane shrugged. "He hasn't been around much anymore. I suspect I've seen the last of him this time for sure."

"A-And… You're okay with that?"

At that point Akane turned and looked Ryoga squarely in the eye. "Why wouldn't I be? He's just a pet. They come and go, you know?" she said.

He winced taking only a small amount of comfort in the fact that he was sure she couldn't possibly know just how badly her words stabbed at his heart. Part of the reason he'd always gone back to her as a pig was because she always made him feel so loved. To hear her talking about P-Chan as if he was a passing interest was rather disheartening.

"I suppose if he does come back I could always get him fixed," Akane said quite out of the blue.

"W-What!" he screeched.

"Why else would he be running off all the time? The little guy must have a girlfriend somewhere. Maybe on a nice farm, you know?"

"I-uh, well, no! I mean, well, how should I know? I-I…"

Ryoga was so flustered by the comment and the scrutinizing glare she was leveling him with that he almost missed it when the young boy in a red ball cap jumped out from around the corner and shot him with a water pistol while shouting out gun noises.

Ryoga yelped overdramatically and swung Akane in front of him resulting in her getting a face full of water that dripped down the front of her dress. Akane gaped for a moment in astonishment before turning and glaring at Ryoga. "Gee Ryoga, whatever happened to not wanting me to get wet?"

"I'm sorry!" he immediately protested in complete agony. "Please forgive me! I just… The water… And I… I didn't want to…"

Akane sighed grabbing a towel from a nearby shelf to dry her face and dress. "It's fine Ryoga. After all, it's just water. Nothing to freak out about," she jabbed in slight sarcasm.

"I really am sorry!" he cried one last time before turning his attention to the little boy. "What were you thinking anyway Kid?" he questioned a bit harshly.

"Ryoga!" Akane snapped, noticing how the little boy's eyes widened in sudden fright. "Don't blame him! He was just having fun. And like I said, it's just water!"

"Well yeah, but he should know better than to go around squirting random people! It's rude!"

Akane glanced at the little boy who looked as if he were about to cry and then glared at Ryoga once more before slouching down to the boy's level. "Hey it's okay, don't worry. Is your mommy or daddy here?"

The boy nodded in response.

"Well good then," she stood. "Ryoga here will help you find your parents while I go and finish drying off. No harm done, see? Ryoga? Be nice," she warned before making her way to the restrooms at the back of the store.

Ryoga sighed. "How did I end up looking like a jerk?" he asked aloud. He then turned and glared at the little boy. "This is all your fault you know?"

The boy responded by squirting Ryoga in the face. He then giggled as Ryoga turned into a pig and 'bweed' in panic, frantically rushing to the restrooms, knocking over a kiosk with ceramic figurines and a tower of cracker jack boxes on his way there. "That really was an awesome magic trick!" The boy gleefully exclaimed while applauding loudly.

* * *

Ranma watched nearby, still pretending to read her comic, while Ukyo looked through a random assortment of spices with bored disinterest. "Dangit!" Ranma grumbled snapping her fingers while sweeping her arm downwards. "That would've worked if Akane hadn't left! She completely missed it. Like always! At least it seemed to get them arguing." She grinned slightly at that. "I'll have to try something else though."

As she watched, Akane exited the girl's restroom and started looking around clearly trying to figure out what had caused the mess in the middle of the store. Moments later Ryoga exited the adjacent boy's restroom and met up with her.

Meanwhile, Meido came rushing around the corner, having heard the horrifying sound of glass breaking. When he saw the mess his eyes grew wide momentarily. He then jerked his head to the side to glare at Ukyo and Ranma suspiciously before signaling another employee to help him clean up the mess. Coincidentally, Ranma who was indirectly at fault was too involved in her scheming to notice, while Ukyo who was completely innocent and had no idea at all of what was going on had seen and felt the contempt the Assistant Manager had directed at her, and it only served to make her more uncomfortable than ever.

Ranma was just starting to formulate a new plan when Ukyo spoke up. "Ranma, come on I'm bored. Let's go okay?"

"Bored? Seriously? Come on! There's plenty of fun to have here! Good training too!" she said as a wicked grin crossed her features.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure," Ukyo said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"There is! Here! I'll show you!" she insisted, grabbing an armful of water bottles from the shelf and dragging Ukyo into the next aisle that was full of silverware and cooking utensils. "Pick your weapon," Ranma said, while nodding towards the shelves.

"Huh?" Ukyo asked.

"On the count of three, I'll throw the bottle in the air and you throw your utensil of choice at it, cutting it in half."

"What! No! I'm not doing that!" Ukyo protested thinking of the gruff Assistant Manager that already seemed to hate her. It wasn't that she was particularly scared of the guy, but she always hated getting dirty looks from random strangers.

"Why? Because you can't?" Ranma taunted.

"Of course I can! But…"

"I don't think you can. It's okay. Nothing to be ashamed of. I mean just because Shampoo can do that kinda stuff doesn't mean you have to. You've got your own skills too…"

That had done it. Ukyo's eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth set into a determined scowl. "Throw the stupid bottles," Ukyo growled.

Ranma grinned. It was all way too easy.

* * *

"Waaah! Knives!" Akane screamed, grabbing a cutting board and using it to block the random knives flying through the air. Several embedded into the board while others skidded harmlessly to the ground.

"WAAAAAHHH WATER!" Ryoga screamed considerably louder, picking up a pink, Hello Kitty parasol that he opened over his head before running through the store in a frenzy, knocking over more kiosks and bumping into shelves as he ran. Unfortunately for Ryoga the water and the knives only followed him.

Akane watched him disappear down the arts and crafts aisle and shook her head in dismay, before following slowly, vaguely wondering why water and knives were falling from the sky. She stopped momentarily as something made a popping noise beneath her foot and knelt down to pick up a plastic water bottle, sliced perfectly in half. "Hmm, that's odd," she mused before continuing after Ryoga.

Ryoga was not very happy at that moment. There was a reason the parasols hadn't been moved to the warehouse along with the rain gear. After all, parasols were for little girls to play dress up with, and the thin chiffon and lace material they were made up of wasn't very effective against rain. Or water of any kind. Ryoga learned this the hard way as he inevitably got drenched with an entire bottle of water sliced cleanly in half by a butter knife. At least Ranma was pleased with that outcome. However, his pleasure was short lived as Akane had missed Ryoga changing into P-Chan yet again. She snapped her fingers in disappointment but laughed as she saw the lost boy knocking over a shelf of paint. He then scrambled off towards the restrooms once more, leaving pig hoof prints of various colors on the freshly waxed floor in his wake.

* * *

"I have to admit that was kind of fun," Ukyo said. Her enjoyment ended as soon as Meido appeared at the end of the aisle. He was completely soaked and pointedly removed a piece of plastic water bottle from his head before grunting in annoyance at Ranma and Ukyo.

"Hahaha," Ukyo laughed nervously. "S-Sorry about that," she stuttered. "We'll pay for the damages and the water bottles! Won't we Ranma?" she asked looking to Ranma for support.

Ranma merely shrugged. "Don't look at me, I gave my last 500 yen piece to that boy in the red hat."

Ukyo sighed before following Meido to the front of the store to pay for the 25 bottles of water she'd sliced in half with knives. Ranma smiled, watching her go and took the opportunity to follow Ryoga to the restrooms.

"I suppose it's time Ryoga and I had a little chat…"

* * *

A frazzled, shirtless Ryoga exited the boy's restroom for the second time that afternoon, trying in vain to wipe the purple paint out of his hair with his shirt that was already coated in paint. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching before grabbing a random shirt from a shelf and putting it on quickly. He stopped short as the adjacent door to the girl's restroom opened as well and a male Ranma stepped out. "Hello there P-Chan," Ranma drawled.

"Ranma! What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know, just a little shopping."

"Shopping? What for?"

"Basic stuff really. Squirt guns, water bottles, butter knives, ironing boards…"

"YOU!" Ryoga shouted realizing that Ranma had been the source of his recent bad luck. He was about to shout at Ranma some more but stopped as a thought occurred to him. "Wait. An ironing board? What do you need an ironing board for?"

"Well you know, I could say I was picking it up for my mom or Kasumi but in truth it's cause I just wanted to do this…" he said, pulling an ironing board out of nowhere and smashing it down on the drinking fountain situated between the two restrooms. The metal portion broke off and the pipes began spraying out water all over the place. Ryoga yelped but managed to avoid getting wet thanks to the use of a garbage can lid he grabbed and used as a shield.

As the water died down and he peaked over the lid to make sure the coast was clear, he smirked noticing Ranma was once again female, having been unsuccessful in avoiding the water splashing off the lid. Ryoga began to laugh and Ranma glared back at him in response.

"Nice try, Ranma," Ryoga taunted, but I guess your evil plan backfired this time. Literally! Ha, ha!"

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Laugh it up you shmuck. It was worth a try. By the way," she said, grinning evilly. "Catch!"

Ryoga panicked momentarily but was still successful in catching the object that had been tossed quickly at him. "A snow globe?" he asked, as he examined the item he was now holding. "What's the big deal about a snow globe?"

"It's full of water!" Ranma pointed out.

"So?"

"So… You better not drop it!"

"Why would I?" Ryoga shouted. "I'm not clumsy."

"No, I guess I was thinking of your date, the un-cute, klutzy tomboy..."

"HEY DON'T TALK ABOUT AK…" He shouted, almost breaking the snow globe between his hands as his fists clenched, preparing to fight and defend Akane's good name. He noticed his mistake just in time and calmed himself down, checking to make sure there were no cracks in the snow globe. "Whoa, that was close," he said almost too distracted with his task to notice Ranma throwing a second snow globe at him.

* * *

"There you go, 3500 yen," Ukyo said tossing a nervous, uncomfortable smile at the Assistant Manager. "Again, I'm so sorry, and…"

Meido merely grunted and glared at her before turning and walking away. He got about five steps before his mouth dropped as he took in the disarray of the store. Broken ceramic figurines were still being cleaned up by several frantic employees while another employee rushed over with a fresh cart of items to put on the display rack, almost crashing into a kiosk and breaking the items in her haste. Other employees were busy mopping up the water that had quickly mixed with the spilled paint, but they were clearly using the wrong cleaning supplies because the mixture of many paint colors, water and whatever they were using was only resulting in a thick coat of a putrid puce colored muck coating the once freshly waxed linoleum. Furthermore it looked as if a wild boar had gone on a random rampage through every aisle in the store. From his view point he could see down a few aisles that appeared to be littered with random items that had fallen off shelves. He quickly glanced towards the stands that shelved all of the plates, bowls and glasses and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that although the stands themselves looked like they had been bashed into, nothing was actually broken. Moments later a loud crack rang out through the store and the very stand he had been staring at suddenly split down the middle, resulting in the items on the top shelves smashing into the items on the bottom shelves, causing a fantastic crash as all of the glassware broke into many tiny little pieces.

Meido's left eye twitched uncontrollably before he finally threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. "That's it, I give up," he exclaimed. "Surely a thousand job interviews wouldn't be as stressful as working here! Besides, I graduated at the top of my class with a business degree from Tokyo University. I'm sure it shouldn't be TOO hard to find something."

With that thought in mind he marched to the back of the store where he was met by Amuro who had just walked back out onto the floor while glaring at a flyer in one hand and clutching an umbrella in the other. "Amuro-san," Meido said, bowing curtly. He straightened back up and smiled brightly. "I quit." He then turned and marched out of the store for good leaving a bewildered Amuro behind him.

"What got into him all of a sudden?" he wondered aloud as he stepped out into the center of the store. Then he had the misfortune of taking in the disaster before him and in response screamed like a little girl.

* * *

Meanwhile Ukyo counted up the rest of her money with an intense scowl while trudging through the store in search of Ranma. "Stupid Ranma talking me into making that mess and then leaving me to pay for it! It was his fault too. Dang! This stupid store has almost completely cleaned me out! And it's a Hyakuen Shop for crying out loud! Agh! I may need to call a rain check on our date now. Or insist that we only order tea," she mumbled as she almost walked into another girl.

"Oops, oh hey Akane," Ukyo said, looking up.

"Hey Ukyo," Akane responded, also looking a little distracted. They continued on their way before both stopped simultaneously and turned back.

"Wait!" Akane called.

"What are you doing here?" Ukyo asked at the same time.

"What am I doing here? I'm on a date! What are you doing here?" Akane exclaimed.

"I'm on a date too! Ranma dragged me in here and…"

"Ranma? Here! I told him not to follow us…"

"Follow you?" Ukyo asked.

They looked at each other for a moment while all the pieces began to fall into place and then their eyes narrowed and their fists clenched.

"Oooh, I am so going to kill him," the both muttered darkly in unison.

* * *

As Amuro ran around to different sections of the store, barking orders and madly trying to straighten collapsing shelves, and Ukyo and Akane went their separate ways both contemplating their revenge, a crowd huddled near the restrooms and applauded appreciatively the impromptu performance taking place. "Shall we add another one?" Ranma called to the crowd surrounding Ryoga who was juggling three snow globes, two large bottles of perfume (to be sold at a Hyakuen Shop it just had to be 90% water after all), and one rather heavy, awkward bucket of water. The crowd responded with an enthusiastic 'yes' and dropped coins into a hat at Ranma's feet. "Gotta give the people what they want," Ranma said as he threw Ryoga another snow globe much to the crowd's delight.

"No problem," Ryoga grinned smugly. "What you fail to take into account is that I once met a band of traveling Anything Goes Martial Arts Acrobats and Circus Performers from Shizuoka…"

"They were from Sapporo."

"Right, Sapporo! Like I said, I met a bunch of them when I was traveling through Kyoto…"

"You were in Kobe."

"Right. Kobe. But the point is they taught me how to juggle and I'm quite skilled at it."

"Yeah, I know. You told me all about it back when you were explaining where you learned all your ridiculous Anything Goes Rhythmic Gymnastics' moves."

"Then why waste your time with this if you know it's not going to work?"

"Because I also happen to know that you've never been very good at staying in one place long enough for someone to finish teaching you a technique. For instance, although you're quite good at throwing things up in the air and catching them again, you got lost and ended up in Hamamatsu before you had a chance to master the art of putting the items back down without dropping them."

Ryoga began to sweat and chuckled fearfully. "Heh, I uh, thought it was Hiroshima?" he said in hopes of distracting Ranma.

Ranma shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. Here's a question though. What should I throw you next, an open bottle of slippery suntan lotion or an open bottle of super glue?"

"Uh, that's… a little, boring don't you think? How about a carving knife? Or a lighter?"

"Nah. Fire and knives are kinda overdone. Hey I know! Maybe I'll just throw you both?"

"You wouldn't!" Ryoga shouted nervously.

"Oh I wouldn't?" Ranma asked, holding up the two bottles.

Ryoga swallowed before resignedly sighing. "Fine, do your worst, Ranma. If I change I change. Akane's not here anyway, so…"

"Ryoga! There you are!" Akane called pushing through the crowd. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she stared at him. "What are you doing?"

"Um, juggling!" he exclaimed.

"Why?" she asked.

"Oh well uh, you see…" He looked back towards Ranma but she had mysteriously vanished amidst the crowd, with the hat and money no less. "Cause I uh can't stop," Ryoga pouted miserably in answer to Akane's question.

Akane rolled her eyes quickly removing the items from mid airtime one at a and placing them back on the nearest shelf much to the disappointment of the crowd that quickly dispersed in light of the show being over. When she was done another detail caught her eye. "What are you wearing?"

"Huh? Oh, I uh, spilled paint on my other shirt so I had to pick up a new one."

Akane frowned reading and internally translating the Engrish shirt Ryoga was wearing, but then shook her head, figuring they had bigger things to worry about, namely an obnoxious fiancé of hers that she would have to deal with later, when Ryoga wasn't around. _"This whole date has been a disaster, and now I'm beginning to figure out why. Stupid Ranma, up to his same old pranks, trying to sabotage my date with Ryoga. Well, no choice now, I have to get this whole thing over with as fast as possible before Ranma messes up my plans worse than he already has. Then I can focus on finding him and killing him…"_

"Come on Ryoga," she said. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"

"Fine by me," Ryoga said, breathing a sigh of relief as he nervously looked around him. He was sure that Ranma had to be close by, quietly waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. He would be glad to leave the store behind.

Unfortunately they had both forgotten one minor little detail.

A bright flash of lightning lit the sky, just as they reached the exit, followed closely by a loud clap of thunder overhead. They both stopped short.

"Oh. Right." Akane said miserably. "Can't leave without the umbrellas can we?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess not," Ryoga responded in similar misery. "Definitely don't want to get wet," he said as an ominous flash of lightning lit the sky once more followed by laughter that was even more ominous. Startled, they looked around for the source of it, only to find a goblin mask leftover from Halloween with red flashing eyes laughing at them. Moments later another similar toy started laughing at a different place within the store, followed by another, and another, and another… Pretty soon they were surrounded by giggling dolls and cackling witches and monsters in every direction. Akane glanced at Ryoga who was tensing up and barely resisted the urge to laugh as well. She could recognize Ranma's touch now. She'd been privy to enough of his pranks in the past after all.

_"It's not funny, Akane,"_ she tried to tell herself. _"Still, Ranma does have a gift for messing with people, and it's not like Ryoga doesn't deserve it…"_ She paused to consider the situation momentarily. After all, part of her objective had been to get back at Ryoga for masquerading as P-Chan for all that time, and Ranma did make an unlikely ally in that capacity.

_"Oh well. Might as well play along and make the best of things..."_ she reasoned. It was then that a colorful display caught her eyes, and her mouth quirked up into an evil grin.

"Hey Ryoga? Look! Aren't they pretty?"

Ryoga froze up, turning to find his worst fears confirmed. Akane had of course managed to find what was likely the final source of water left in the entire store. And this particular source was definitely the biggest threat of all. Akane was standing right next to a stand with about a hundred open topped flimsy glass orbs full of water perched precariously on a rickety looking kiosk. Inside each bowl of water was a colorful fish, the source of Akane's current interest. Ryoga swallowed hard, briefly considering taking his chances with the rain. Glass fish bowls filled with water plus a deranged Martial Artist bent on revenge trying to sabotage his date spelled certain disaster for Ryoga. "Sure, Akane, pretty," he said quickly. "Say, let's go find the Manager and see if he has our umbrellas…"

"Oooh, look at that one," Akane cooed, as she pointed to a particular bowl, completely oblivious to Ryoga's discomfort. "They're so pretty. I bet Kasumi would love one of these as a present. Help me pick one out won't you?" Akane insisted.

"NO!" Ryoga shouted, earning him a look of displeased shock from Akane. "I-I mean… Er… A fish? That's so… Boring," he said, searching for an excuse for his behavior and then a suitable alternative to suggest. "W-Why not get her a nice… Dry… Uh… Beach towel?" he said attempting to steer her away from the dangerous water.

Akane laughed. "Don't be silly, Ryoga! A beach towel? Honestly! What kind of present is that for a girl? Now come on," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him directly in front of the stand. "Help me pick one!"

Ryoga whimpered as Akane began obliviously fawning over the fish, but he had very little time to panic before his reflexes were put to the test.

First there was a barrage of toy tanks, windup toys and Hotwheels cars that completely surrounded them as they converged towards their location. Ryoga quickly ran around smashing all of them under his feet leaving a mess of plastic parts in a misshaped circle around the fishbowl stand.

That first attempt at sabotage had been feeble to say the least. But it was the assortment of volleyballs, bouncy balls, footballs, bowling balls and golf balls that came randomly rolling and/or bouncing down a nearby aisle that really put his skills to the test. The majority of balls he kicked and batted out of the way easily. The bowling balls were too heavy to be kicked however, so he settled for bakusai tenketsu-ing the heck out of them, earning a queer look from Akane. The footballs proved to be the most troublesome. Due to their odd shape they never seemed to bounce in the direction you would expect, and as a result of this one of them almost got through his defenses. Still, he'd managed to grab it just in time and toss it back in the direction it had come from. Then Ryoga stood still and alert, muscles tensed and ready for the next inevitable assault. He was sure the next one would surely be a challenge, and he tried not to let his nervousness show. A light gust of air and faint whizzing sound sent him spinning to his left where he saw a small glider plane sailing towards a bowl perched near his elbow.

_"Pheh, stealth mode,"_ he thought to himself.

He quickly and effectively smashed the tiny Styrofoam plane to smithereens with a nearby crochet mallet, smirking at the clear and apparent overkill. _"Not stealthy enough to get by Ryoga Hibiki, my friend," _he thought as he stood up tall and proud, twirling the mallet in a wide arc between his fingers in a display of confident triumph.

However, a moment later he found himself freezing up in terror, at the sound of a light clink. He spun around to find the source of the sound. In the midst of his careless theatrics with the mallet, he had lightly wacked the middle tier of the glass kiosk resulting in a small hairline crack on the stand. He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the crack was not enough to cause any serious damage, but a second letter he found he had been very wrong. A large chunk of glass suddenly split from the stand and crashed to the ground. This threw the entire kiosk off balance and Ryoga gaped in fright watching as the stand leaned towards them, bowls sliding down the shelves towards the floor. There were far too many to catch so with a yelp he dashed away from the stand.

Akane looked up in that moment, quite startled by his behavior. "Ryoga, what…" was all she managed to say before many loud crashing, popping and splashing noises emanated from the place where she stood and she found herself suddenly amidst a smattering of flopping fish, broken glass and water. Thankfully she had somehow avoided getting cut by all the glass, but her skirt and legs were thoroughly drenched from the splashing of somewhere around a hundred bowls of water. She stood stunned momentarily. Clearly she hadn't thought her involvement in this particular scheme through. She'd mostly expected Ryoga would just become overly nervous standing so close to water, and that at most he'd break a bowl and almost get wet. She hadn't considered the possibility of the kiosk breaking and all the fish…

A startled gasp escaped her as her brain finished processing the situation. "Oh no!" she shouted. "The fish! Ryoga! Quick, help me save them!"

"S-Save them? But there's… Water… And uh… Glass over there…"

"Then get a bucket of water," she shouted frantically, already heading towards a nearby aisle. "I'll get some bowls for them!"

"A bucket of water," he muttered to himself, darting off in the other direction. "Okay… I can do _that._" he said. "As long as I don't trip and spill the bucket on myself," he muttered under his breath.

Seconds later he returned ahead of Akane with the bucket of water, and quickly began gingerly picking up the fish and depositing them in the bucket, careful not to get wet himself. He had just finished scooping up the last fish when Akane returned, pushing a cart filled with a medley of different kinds of bowls and screeched at him in horror.

"What are you doing!" she shouted.

"What? I'm putting the fish in the water!"

"They're Chinese FIGHTING fish! You can't put them in the same container!" She was on her knees next to him in a moment dunking bowls into the water and trying to catch the darting fish with her hands. Sure enough, Ryoga could see she was right. Several of the fish were already engaged in ripping at each other's fins, while others circled each other threateningly.

"Dang it," Akane yelped. "They're slippery!" Ryoga watched in dismay for a moment as Akane attempted to scoop up the fish, until she turned her head incredulously towards him. "Well, are you going to help me or what?" she demanded.

By now a small crowd had formed and they were all standing around surveying the mess of broken glass, crunched toys, balls, water and several dead fish near the two frantic teenagers bent over a brown bucket screeching a rather bizarre dialogue back and forth.

"I… Can't…" Ryoga stuttered.

"Why not?" Akane yelled.

"I'm uh… Afraid of… Fish?" he ended lamely.

"Ugh! Of course," Akane grumbled exasperatedly, her arms still darting frantically into the bucket, getting her sleeves wet up beyond her elbows. For a moment she had forgotten about the whole curse thing. "Then find a net to scoop them out or something! Quick!"

"Right, I'll…"

"Ahem. Allow me," said a new voice.

Akane froze at the sound of the voice and turned to look as Ranma-chan knelt down between them and took a deep breath.

"Kachu-Tenshin Amagurinken!" she shouted, her arms and hands suddenly a blur of speed, shooting into the bucket, flipping fish into the air, and neatly catching each of them along with a reasonable amount of water in individual bowls. She was done in just under 12 seconds, and smiled proudly as the gathered onlookers applauded her feat.

She then turned to smile at Akane, who looked pleased for about a split second before her face slipped into a scowl. Before either of them had a chance to say anything, Ranma found her head wrenched back the other direction to face Ryoga.

"RA-NNN-MAAAA," he growled.

"What's wrong buddy? Figured you'd be grateful considering I just saved you from being labeled a fish murderer. Hate to break it to you but that's not really the best way to impress a girl..."

"Saved me!" he yelled. "This is all your fault to begin with! You've been following us around and doing everything in your power to sabotage our date!"

"Sabotage?" Ranma said, attempting to sound innocent. "Now how would I do a thing like that? What exactly have I been doing that would cause problems for you?"

Ryoga flinched slightly knowing he couldn't very well admit that Ranma was trying to get him wet. Ultimately it was Akane that answered for him before he did have a chance to respond. "Just being here is bad enough, you don't have to DO anything! I can't believe you followed us! Especially after I specifically asked you to leave us alone!" she shouted.

"Hey look," Ranma bristled in response to her anger. "You could show some gratitude you know! After all, I could have done nothing and just let you two continue your futile attempts at saving those fish, but you seemed so upset about it that I figured I should do something." Akane's face softened momentarily and she blinked in surprise realizing Ranma had blown her cover in order to help her. She was about to speak again but they were suddenly interrupted. "RANCHAN!"

"Oh hey Ukyo," Ranma sighed as the three turned to face the irate girl who had just come around the corner. "You're mad too I see. Well, join the party," she muttered under her breath feeling rather frustrated that her attempts at heroics had only been met with anger.

"I can't believe you used me just to follow these two around on their date!" Ukyo shouted, scandalized.

"Pshaw. Yeah Ranma! That's low! Even for you!" Ryoga interjected.

"Thank you for your input, Ryoga, but I will handle this myself…" Ukyo said bitingly.

"Hey now! Don't go snapping at Ryoga!" Akane said. "This isn't his fault!"

"Thank you Akane," Ryoga said with stars in his eyes.

"Now don't you go getting smug! Just because I'm defending you to Ukyo doesn't mean I've forgiven you for making such a mess! Those poor fish! If it hadn't been for…"

"RANMA SAOTOME!"

The four blinked and looked around at each other in turn. All the key players seemed to be present already, and none of them were very familiar with the fifth addition to their argument. They all turned to face the newcomer that they eventually recognized as the Manager storming down a nearby aisle.

"I knew you seemed familiar somehow," the Manager growled holding up a flyer for them to see. The four blinked and then looked closely at the flyer.

"Genma Saotome and Ranma Saotome," Ranma read aloud. "Hey look!" she grinned. "That's me!" she said pointing to the black and white pictures of her female and male forms, next to similar pictures of her father as both a human and a panda.

Ryoga rolled his eyes and snatched the flyer away. "Responsible for multiple accounts of shoplifting and property destruction."

"Do not under any circumstances allow them in your store," Ukyo read. "Do not attempt to apprehend…"

"Any attempts to do so will likely result in the total annihilation of your store," Akane finished. The three turned and leveled Ranma with an indifferent glare.

"Oh come on!" Ranma said, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "You can't honestly believe that bit of nonsense!"

Her statement was followed by a resounding crack as a support beam on a nearby stand collapsed, causing the whole structure to topple over, creating a domino effect, knocking each adjacent stand over in turn. Everyone gathered flinched with each successive crash, until the destruction finally ended and they all stood still amidst the dust and debris.

The Manager broke the silence with a wail of fury. "NOOO! My store! My beautiful store! What have you DONE!" he yelled, rounding on Ranma.

"Hey," Ranma sputtered indignantly. "I saved the fish!"

"The FISH? The FISH! My beautiful store is RUINED and all you care about are the stupid FISH!"

"Well they are awfully pretty…" Akane pointed out. "And they would've all died if it wasn't for…"

ARGH! Enough! Enough! Just… Get out! Out! All four of you! Take your stupid umbrella and leave and don't ever come back!" he shouted, thrusting the umbrella at Akane. "EVER!"

Just then, the recorder at the front door began its call of 'Irasshaimase,' only to be short-circuited halfway through by the puddle of water it was situated in the middle of. In the doorway stood two men, openly gaping at the sight before them. One held a camera, the other a plaque and a collection of colorful congratulatory balloons.

Taigo Amuro swallowed hard and stepped forward to shake their hands attempting to salvage the situation. "Gentlemen! Welcome! You must be from the Recognition Committee! My name's Taigo Amuro and I…"

"Oooh hey, firecrackers!" Ranma squealed in the background.

"Ranma! No!"

The three shouts were cut off by multiple pops and an impressive puff of smoke. Moments later the fire sprinklers overhead went off, leaving everyone in the room completely drenched in a matter of seconds… Save Ryoga who grabbed the umbrella from Akane and flipped it open over his head just in time.

Ranma, witnessing this, snapped her fingers, muttering a disheartened, "Shucks." Ukyo let out a startled squeal and darted under the umbrella with Ryoga. Akane opened and closed her mouth, stunned and gaping much like the fish. Considering her dress was completely soaked, her makeup was running down her face, and her so called date had stolen her umbrella under which he was now huddled with another woman, her day was certainly not going according to plan. And there was as usual only one person to blame.

"RANMA!"

Time: 17:00

Resuming Phases 007.003 and RMI001

Mission Status: Incomplete

Special Considerations: No fish were harmed in the making of this file…

…End Transmission…

* * *

Author's Notes: An update! Can you believe it? Sorry it's been so long, and thanks for being so patient. Since my last update I had a baby and being pregnant and having a newborn leaves me with very little free time. I ultimately had to choose to put off writing for a while so I could stay healthy, unstressed and devote all my time and attention to my family. The only thing that really frustrates me about the delay is that this chapter was already 90% done a year ago when I stopped working on it. Everything up to the fish scene was complete!

I'm not sure when I will get the next chapter out because free time is still rather unusual for me, but a large portion of it and the next two chapters are already written, so provided I don't get caught up in being a perfectionist, develop writer's block for short transition scenes and/or stumble on yet another idea for a tangent, it won't take me a year again.

There are a few things I want to comment on about this chapter. First I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was a lot of fun for me, although somewhat difficult. I saw all the actions in my mind as if it were an anime episode. That's really the style I was trying to go for, a crazy action packed, random mayhem type disaster episode, but once I got started with it I realized it was a lot harder to put all those actions into words the way I was seeing it. Ultimately this chapter would have been a lot better if it were seen rather than read.

Second, I always felt kind of bad about the random destruction that Ranma and company wreak on society. They destroy all this property and hardly every really apologize or suffer the consequences. I didn't want to follow that trend. I wanted to cover what would happen if they were held accountable for their actions, but then once it got going and I realized that the store was still going to end up a little worse for wear I figured I better make those affected seem like they deserved it. Ultimately that made for more interesting original characters, but I do hope I didn't spend too much time on their development and bore you all.

I do apologize to those of you who wanted the shorter version of this chapter that skipped straight to the café, and to those of you that think this story is getting too long. I'm just under the impression now that I have to let this story take me where it wants to take me. It was an entirely different monster in the start from what it is now, and I'm done fighting it because ultimately, although the first half of the story gave me a lot of grief at the time, looking back I really like what came out of it. So I'm done questioning where I'm going. Instead I'm just going to go where inspiration takes me, and make sure I hit all the important plot points along the way. Believe it or not I do know where this story ends and everything that has to happen along the way. And don't worry, the next chapter will conclude Ryoga and Akane's date, I promise.

As always thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews. While I was gone, every time someone commented it gave me inspiration to someday continue this, and if it wasn't for that I don't know if I would've actually completed this, so thank you so much for bringing me back everyone! Now go and review again, it may just inspire me to update faster! Also thanks to those of you that gave me ideas for this chapter with suggestions of things to throw in. Helped a lot and I hope you noticed some of your suggestions integrated into the story.

Alright, I've rambled enough.

Coming… Eventually: MI009: Scarlet and Mustard (Part 3) – The conclusion of Ryoga and Akane's date. They end up at The Fountain Café where revelations and confessions abound and couples part ways for good. Watch as I attempt to actually RESOLVE something! Hehe. Oh, and expect more water mayhem and other humorous hi-jinks!

And again, for those of you trying to keep track of the characters' codenames:

Subject 001 – Akane Tendo (Alias: Scarlet)

Subject 002 – Nabiki Tendo (Aliases: Target 001, The Butler)

Target 000 – Ranma Saotome

Target 001 – Nabiki Tendo (Aliases: Subject 002, The Butler)

Target 002 – Ryoga Hibiki (Aliases: P-Chan, Pervert, Mustard)

Target 003 – Classified

Target 004 – Classified

Target 005 – Xian Pu (Alias: Shampoo, Peacock)

Target 006 – Ukyo Kuonji (Alias: Plum)

Target 007 – Classified

Target 008 – Classified

Target 009 – Classified


End file.
